From humble beginnings, he bestrode the commanding heights of successive administrations in his country for a quarter of a century. Colin Luther Powell (known simply as Colin Powell) was the son of Jamaican immigrants who became a frontline general of the US Army, and also had stellar global reputation. His death at 84 years, from Covid-19 complications, marked a curtain call on about the most remarkable public service career in contemporary America.
Powell was a war veteran, who served at strategic heights, in three Republican administrations in the United States; and after his retirement, remained an influencer with huge political capital, courted by successive presidential hopefuls across party lines. He was appointed national security adviser by legendary Republican President Ronald Reagan in 1987.
Reagan’s successor, President W.H. Bush (also a Republican) tapped him in 1989 to head the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Powell’s tenure in the senior Bush’s administration was headlined by some of America’s most daring exploits of the late 20th Century, notably the 1991 Gulf War, code-named Operation Desert storm, by which the U.S-led allies forced out Iraqi strongman, Saddam Hussein, from his military occupation of Kuwait.
Although Powell initially balked at committing U.S. troops to that war, he became about the most credible voice of the administration when the assault eventually got underway. “First, we’re going to cut it off. Then, we’re going to kill it,” he famously said of the Iraqi army at a news conference.
For that mission, Powell became a hero figure and was viewed as a leading contender to become the first Black U.S. President. For his efforts in the war, he earned the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom twice: first from the senior Bush and also from Bush’s immediate successor, President Bill Clinton (a Democrat).
Powell never mounted a White House bid, but was called up in 2001 by President George W. Bush – another Republican – to be Secretary of State. It was under the junior Bush that Powell’s reputation, however, got dented because he pushed faulty intelligence about Hussein’s purported Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMDs), to advocate war against the Iraqi despot.
Whereas America got allies to war and toppled Saddam, it was discovered he had no WMDs; and Powell duly acknowledged his own role to be a “blot” on his record. In his 2012 memoirs, titled It Worked for Me, he wrote: ”I am mad mostly at myself for not having smelled the problem. My instincts failed me. It was by no means my first, but it was one of my most momentous failures, the one with the widest-ranging impact.”
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Powell was said to have been propelled on that course by hawks in the junior Bush’s administration, including former Vice President Dick Cheney, who reportedly told him before his 2003 United Nations speech that touted intelligence on WMDs, which didn’t actually exist: “You’ve got high poll ratings; you can afford to lose a few points.”
Under the junior Bush as well, Powell’s post-September 11 counsel was spurned. Drawing on his experience in Vietnam, he had advised that before the U.S. went to war it should have a clear objective, a sufficiently dominant force and an exit strategy – a position he famously articulated by saying: ”You break it, you’re going to own it.”
When the advice was ignored, the reputed ex-general didn’t quit in protest. He rather abided by military code and fell in behind the commander-in-chief. But it turned out he was utterly right, given how the Iraqi war panned out.
Explaining his moniker as “reluctant warrior” to renowned journalist Bob Woodward in an interview, he said: ”I am a reluctant warrior. I don’t like wars. I don’t want to be a warrior. But remember the other thing that is well-known about me. And that is: we go to a war, and I will do everything I can to beat the crap out of somebody, and win.” He added: “That’s known as the Powell doctrine, by the way.”
With his eminent profile, Powell was touted as a potential presidential candidate in 1996, but he declined to participate, citing a lack of ”passion” for electoral politics. He was again encouraged to run in 2000, but rebuffed the calls and rather endorsed George W. Bush.
Disenchanted with Republican politics, he crossed party lines to endorse Democrat Barack Obama’s candidature in 2008. And in 2016, he voted Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump. In an extraordinary move that year, three presidential electors in Washington state voted Powell who wasn’t on the ballot, resulting in state fines that were upheld by the Supreme Court.
Although Powell was fully vaccinated against Covid-19, he reportedly had Parkinson’s and multiple myeloma, a cancer of plasma cells that suppresses the body’s immune response and thereby fatally compromised his immunity against the virus.
The warrior couldn’t win this last one, of all his wars!