The former United States secretary of state Colin Powell, who was also a four-star general, has died due to COVID-19 related health complications, his family has said.
In a statement on Facebook Powell’s family said that the four-star general who last held public office in 2005, died at the age of 84, on Monday
The Powell family said, “He was fully vaccinated. We want to thank the medical staff at Walter Reed National Medical Center for their caring treatment. We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather, and a great American.”
Powell who was the first Black Secretary of State in the country’s history was a conducive figure in shaping the foreign policy of Republican presidential administrations for decades. He was in the top positions during the fall of the Berlin Wall, the 1989 US invasion of Panama, the 1991 Gulf War, the September 11 attacks, and the resulting US invasions of Afghanistan in 2001 and Iraq in 2003.
He also served as a security adviser to former President Ronald Reagan from 1987 to 1989 and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under former President George HW Bush and former President Bill Clinton from 1989 to 1993.
He was also the highest-ranking Black official in US history, later equaled by former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and surpassed by former President Barack Obama.
Iraq war controversy
Powell, who initially opposed the military operation in Iraq, has been blamed for erroneous details about the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 that misled the public as he sought to build international support.
In a controversial presentation on February 5, 2003, to the United Nations Security Council, Powell made the Bush administration’s case that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein constituted an imminent danger to the world because of Iraq’s stockpiles of chemical and biological weapons.
Years after leaving office, Powell admitted that his case for Iraq war was riddled with inaccuracies. He said that others in the Bush administration had relied on twisted intelligence provided by others, adding that the fiasco will represent “a blot” that will “always be a part of my record”.
In a statement on Monday, former President Bush called Powell a “great public servant”, adding that he was “such a favorite of the president that he earned the Presidential Medal of Freedom, twice”.
Powell, a Republican, had previously considered a bid to become the first Black president in 1996, but his wife Alma’s worries about his safety were among the reasons he ultimately decided not to run.
In 2008, Powell who was known as a moderate and pragmatist, broke with his party to endorse the then-candidate Obama, a Democrat.
