Former Secretary of State under George W. Bush, Colin Powell, died at the age of 84 from “complications from Covid-19,” his family announced Monday. He was admitted to Walter Reed Hospital, located in the suburbs of Washington, where US presidents are often treated. “We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, and grandfather, and a great American,” they said in a statement, adding that he was “fully vaccinated.”
Before becoming the chief of the American diplomacy between 2001 and 2005, during the first mandate of George W. Bush, Colin Powell had been the first African American to have occupied the post of chief of staff of the armies, from 1989 to 1993. Advocate of the war in Iraq, it was he who had given the speech before the UN Security Council on weapons of mass destruction (WMD) allegedly held by Iraq. Arguments which then justified the American intervention in Iraq.
The former geologist later admitted that this speech was “a stain” on his reputation: “It is a stain because I am the one who made this presentation on behalf of the United States to the world, and it will still part of my balance sheet. “