Colin Powell

[[File:Colin Powell official Secretary of State photo.jpg|upright|165px|thumb|Powell's war face.]]{{uspolitics}}
'''Colin Luther Powell''' (1937-2021) was a Four Star General of the [[United States Army]] and the first [[African-American]] to serve as the Secretary of State.<ref name="bush archive">[https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/government/powell-bio.html Secretary of State Colin Powell] from the George W. Bush White House Archives.</ref> Powell in particular served under [[George W. Bush|Bush]] and was responsible for selling the now infamous lie that "[[Saddam Hussein]] had [[weapons of mass destruction]]" to the [[UN]] prior to the catastrophe that was the [[Iraq War]]. He also served as Chairman of the Joint Chief of Staff under [[George H. W. Bush]] during the [[Gulf War]].<ref name="bush archive" />

==As a general==
During his tenure as head of the Joint Chief of Staff, Powell had to deal with over 24 different crises, including the 1989 {{wpl|Invasion of Panama}} to overthrow the [[Panama]]nian dictator {{wpl|Manuel Noriega||,}} and {{wpl|Operation Desert Storm}} during the aforementioned 1991 Gulf War. Powell was known for his reluctance to use military power as a weapon of first resort, instead preferring to utilize [[diplomacy]] instead. This had earned Powell the epithet "Reluctant Warrior," as Powell's military stratagem revolved around maximizing success while minimizing casualties.<ref>"[https://www.theguardian.com/world/2001/sep/30/usa.afghanistan The Reluctant Warrior]" — ''[[The Guardian]]''</ref>

==Iraq War==
[[File:Colin Powell anthrax vial. 5 Feb 2003 at the UN.jpg|thumb|left|300px|Powell blatantly lies before the UN in 2003, by waving around a model anthrax vial, despite knowing that Iraq had no anthrax.]]
{{cquote|My colleagues, every statement I make today is backed up by sources, solid sources. These are not assertions. What we’re giving you are facts and conclusions based on solid intelligence.|||Secretary Powell before the UN, 2003.<ref name="colinquotes">[https://theintercept.com/2018/02/06/lie-after-lie-what-colin-powell-knew-about-iraq-fifteen-years-ago-and-what-he-told-the-un/ Lie After Lie: What Colin Powell Knew About Iraq 15 Years Ago And What He Told The U.N]. ''The Intercept.''</ref>}}
{{cquote|I wonder how we’ll all feel if we put half a million troops in Iraq and march from one end of the country to the other and find nothing.|||Secretary Powell in private, as quoted by his chief of staff.<ref name="colinquotes"/>}}
Powell was Secretary of State while Bush was [[POTUS]], and hence was suckered into invading a country that had absolutely ''nothing'' to do with [[9/11]] in the first place. Powell initially opposed deposing Saddam,<ref>https://www.history.com/topics/us-politics/colin-powell#section_3</ref> but he ultimately acquiesced to Shrub's demands. Powell was tasked with presenting the case for invading [[Iraq]] to the UN General Assembly, and he dutifully [[A failure to disarm | went ahead]].

His 2003 speech to the UN is now as infamous as it was farcical. During his presentation he stated that he believed "without a doubt Saddam is conducting biological weapons programs", citing anonymous "Iraqi defectors" as his sources.<ref>[https://2001-2009.state.gov/secretary/former/powell/remarks/2003/17300.htm Sec. Powell's remarks to the UN Assembly]"</ref> In an amusing twist, though, it turned out that Powell's "source" was a [[Plagiarism|plagiarized]] paper from an unaccredited Iraqi-American graduate student.<ref>"[https://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/02/07/sprj.irq.uk.dossier/index.html UK accused of lifting dossier from grad student]" — [[CNN]]</ref> That's not the end of the absurdity. In one section of the presentation, he mentioned Iraqi-based terrorist [[Abu Musab al-Zarqawi]]'s name 21 times in an attempt to establish him as the link between Iraq and Al-Qaeda.<ref name="colinbad">[https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/article/colin-powell-u-n-speech-was-a-great-intelligence-failure/ Colin Powell: U.N. Speech “Was a Great Intelligence Failure”]. ''PBS.''</ref> The first problem was that Zarqawi was a nobody who had met with Bin Laden maybe once ever and was considered a piss-poor recruiter by his superiors.<ref name="colinbad"/> The second problem was that Powell's speech turned Zarqawi into a fucking celebrity and greatly improved his ability to build Al-Qaeda's ground presence in the country, especially after the invasion.<ref name="colinbad"/> He also used the memory of the 2001 anthrax attacks to stir up fear over what Iraq could do with a similar weapon and that perhaps Iraq had even been responsible. The problem? Shortly after the attacks, the [[FBI]] hired microbiologist Paul Keim to investigate, and he proved that Iraq was not responsible.<ref>[https://www.wired.com/2011/03/did-the-anthrax-attacks-kickstart-the-iraq-war/ Did the Anthrax Attacks Kick-Start the Iraq War?] ''WIRED.''</ref> The Bush administration ignored this finding, and anthrax became an issue in Powell's speech years later. The rest of Powell's speech was filled with omissions, mis-translations from Arabic, and faulty intelligence.<ref name="colinquotes"/> 

Powell later resigned from the position of Secretary of State, however even after resigning he continued to support the war in Iraq. Although clarifying that he opposed the decision to go to war in the first place, he still stood by Bush's fateful and awful decision.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.aifestival.org/library/transcript/Powell-Lehrer_transcript.pdf|title=Conversation with Colin Powell|publisher=Aspen Ideas Festival|format=PDF|date=July 2007|accessdate=February 22, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080227081751/http://www.aifestival.org/library/transcript/Powell-Lehrer_transcript.pdf|archive-date=February 27, 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==On the plus side...==
{{main|Stopped clock}}
*In September 2004, Powell described the Darfur genocide in [[Sudan]] as "[[genocide]]", thus becoming the first cabinet member to apply the term "genocide" to events in an ongoing conflict.
*Shortly prior to his resignation, he allegedly referred to several neo-cons in the Bush administration (including [[Dick Cheney|Cheney]], [[Donald Rumsfeld|Rumsfeld]] and [[Paul Wolfowitz|Wolfowitz]]) as "fucking crazies", during a phone conversation with [[Jack Straw]].<ref>Martin Bright,
[https://www.theguardian.com/media/2004/sep/12/Iraqandthemedia.politicsphilosophyandsociety/ Colin Powell in four-letter neo-con 'crazies' row], ''the guardian.com'' (September 12, 2004).</ref>
*Despite not being personally in favour of abortion, he was ultimately pro-choice.<ref>[https://www.ontheissues.org/celeb/Colin_Powell_Abortion.htm/ Colin Powell on Abortion], ''ontheissues.org''.</ref>
*Remarkably for a Republican military man, Powell displayed some tentative support for gun control, favouring extensive background checks, and questioning the easy availability of firearm magazines.<ref>Sabrina Siddiqui,
[https://www.huffpost.com/entry/colin-powell-gun-control_n_2467890/ Colin Powell Shows Support For Gun Control Measures, Including Assault Weapons Ban], ''huffpost.com'' (January 1, 2013).</ref>
*He was willing to call the GOP out for spreading the [[Obama citizenship denial|Obama birtherism]] conspiracy theory. Furthermore, he correctly pointed out that even if Obama was a Muslim, there would still be nothing wrong with it.<ref>[https://www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna27266223 'Meet the Press' transcript for Oct. 19, 2008], ''nbcnews.com'' (October 20, 2008).</ref>
*He supported the repeal of [[Don't Ask Don't Tell]], despite earlier being all for it back in 1994.<ref>Trudy Ring,
[https://www.advocate.com/news/2021/10/18/colin-powell-dies-supporter-then-critic-dont-ask-dont-tell/ Colin Powell Dies; Supporter, Then Critic of 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell'], ''advocate.com'' (October 18, 2021).</ref> By 2012, he had come out (pun totally not intended) in favour of legalising same-sex marriage.<ref> Laura E. Davis,
[https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/OTUS/colin-powell-expresses-support-gay-marriage/story?id=16416112/ Colin Powell Expresses Support for Gay Marriage], ''abcnews.go.com'' (May 24, 2012).</ref>
*Powell was a staunch supporter of [[affirmative action]], believing it necessary to bring about fair representation in the private sector and educational venues.<ref>Josh Kraushaar,
[https://www.politico.com/blogs/politico-now/2009/07/powell-still-supportive-of-affirmative-action-019573/ Powell still supportive of affirmative action], ''politico.com'' (July 5, 2009).</ref>
*Right from the get-go, he was a frequent and vocal critic of [[Donald Trump]].<ref>Tom Winter, Andrea Mitchell and Cassandra Vinograd,
[https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2016-election/colin-powell-calls-trump-national-disgrace-hacked-emails-n648011/ Colin Powell Slammed Trump as 'National Disgrace,' Called Clinton 'Greedy,' in Hacked Emails], ''nbcnews.com'' (September 14, 2016).</ref> So much so that Trump actively gloated following Powell's death.<ref>Chris Cillizza,
[https://edition.cnn.com/2021/10/19/politics/donald-trump-colin-powell-death/index.html/ Donald Trump (yet again) proves there's no bottom], ''edition.cnn.com'' (October 20, 2021).</ref> Then again, would you really expect anything else?
*Following the [[2021 U.S. Capitol riot|2021 capitol riot]], he finally did what he should have done years ago, and left the Republican Party.<ref>Azi Paybaragh,
[https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/18/us/colin-powell-gop.html/ Colin Powell says he ‘can no longer call himself a Republican.’], ''nytimes.com'' (January 11, 2021).</ref>

==Death==
Colin Powell died in October 18, 2021 due to complications caused by [[COVID-19]] despite having been fully vaccinated, as his {{wpl|multiple myeloma}} cancer left him severely immunocompromised.<ref>[https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-58957273 Former Secretary of State, Colin Powell, dead at 84 due to complications from COVID]</ref> Almost immediately, a plethora of anti-vaxxers, far-right morons, and all-around spineless bastards (including Fox News hosts John Roberts, Will Cain, and of course [[Tucker Carlson]]) tried to use his death as a platform to rant about the inefficacy of vaccines.<ref>Caleb Ecarma,
[https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2021/10/colin-powell-death-anti-vaxxers/ Colin Powell’s Death Has Officially Been Hijacked by Anti-vaxxers], ''vanityfar.com'' (October 18, 2021).</ref><ref>Ja'han Jones,
[https://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/colin-powell-covid-death-anti-vaxxers-rcna3333/ Anti-vaxxers try — and fail – to make Colin Powell their smoking gun], ''msnbc.com'' (October 20, 2021).</ref>

==See also==
*[[Donald Rumsfeld]]
*[[Dick Cheney]]

==References==
{{reflist|2|80%}}

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[[Category:Bush administration]]
[[Category:Christians]]
[[Category:Former U.S. Cabinet Members]]
[[Category:Government incompetence]]
[[Category:Iraq]]
[[Category:Moderate Republicans]]
[[Category:Military]]
[[Category:United Nations]]

Categories: Bush administration, Christians, Former U.S. Cabinet Members, Government incompetence, Iraq, Moderate Republicans, Military, United Nations