NATION PAYS TRIBUTE TO A WARRIOR DIPLOMAT
Colin Powell dead of coronavirus at 84
Colin Powell could “speak truth to power.” When you serve Republican and Democratic presidents that’s an amazing skill, said former colleague Andy Card.
“He did everything to implement presidential decisions, even when he didn’t always agree with them,” Card, a Holbrook native and former White House Chief of Staff, told the Herald Monday soon after it was announced Powell had died.
Powell was 84 and succumbed to COVID-19 complications. He had recently been diagnosed with multiple myeloma and was fully vaccinated, but his immune system was compromised, experts said.
He was a Vietnam War veteran — first arriving in 1962 — who rose to the rank of four-star general before becoming the first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
“He mentored hundreds of people,” Card added. “He embraced the Republican party once he got out of the Army.”
He “was a gentleman,” wasn’t afraid to warn of consequences, and “had the courage to disappoint people,” Card said. He helped with the Haitian boat people, AIDS victims both here and in Africa, and “he knew how to listen and make you so much smarter,” Card added.
“We will miss him,” he said.
Powell was often mentioned as a perfect presidential candidate.
He became former President George W. Bush’s secretary of state — but his 2003 address to the U.N. Security Council in which he cited faulty information to claim that Saddam Hussein had secretly stashed weapons of mass destruction stuck with him.
Years later he called it a “blot” on his record.
“I’m the one who presented it on behalf of the United
States to the world, and (it) will always be a part of my record,” Powell said in 2005, the Washington Post reported Monday. “It was painful. It’s painful now.”
He later told the Associated Press in 2012 that “Iraq’s terrible dictator is gone,” so the invasion was not a complete disaster.
Powell was also the first American official to publicly blame Osama bin Laden’s alQaida network for launching the 9/11 attacks on America.
President Biden said Powell “embodied the highest ideals of both warrior and diplomat.”
Powell’s resume is outstanding: He served as national security adviser to President Ronald Reagan; chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for Presidents George H.W. Bush and Bill Clinton; and secretary of state for President George W. Bush.
“He leaves behind an admirable legacy that encompasses not only his many achievements, but also his great courage and resolve to always speak truth to power, stand up for what’s right, and take responsibility for his mistakes,” said U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez,
D-N.J., chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told the Associated Press.
“General Powell’s trailblazing career was marked by many firsts — the first Black national security advisor; the youngest and first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and the first Black Secretary of State,” said UMass President and former congressman Martin Meehan.
He added: “I had the honor of working with General
Powell when I served on the House Armed Services Committee, and I can attest to his commitment to public service, his loyalty to those he served and led, and his unyielding love for this country.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, a retired Army general and the first Black Pentagon chief, said the news of Powell’s death left “a hole in my heart.”
He is survived by his wife, Alma, a son and two daughters.