imago
Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell has died. The retired four-star general died at the age of 84 from complications resulting from a Corona infection, his family announced Monday on the online network Facebook. He had been vaccinated against the virus, according to the statement. “We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American,” the family said.
A great loss
A liberal-leaning Republican, Powell served as the first African-American in history to serve as U.S. secretary of state from 2001 to 2005 under President George W. Bush. Powell is known, among other things, for a controversial appearance before the United Nations Security Council in 2003, where he presented alleged evidence of weapons of mass destruction that Baghdad did not possess in order to justify an invasion of Iraq by the United States. Powell himself later described the appearance as a “stain” on his resume.
Powell was born in 1937 in New York’s Harlem neighborhood, the son of Jamaican immigrants. He studied geography and began a career in the U.S. Army that took him to Germany and twice to Vietnam, among other places. In 1989, the highly decorated general became the first African American to serve as chief of staff of the U.S. Armed Forces. For many, he became the face of the 1991 Gulf War.
George W. Bush brought him into office
Under George W. Bush, Powell did serve as secretary of state for four years. But he increasingly became a foreign body in the Republican Party, which was moving to the right. In 2008, he issued an election recommendation for Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama. In 2016 and 2020, he also backed Democratic candidates Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden.