Former US Secretary of State Colin Powell passed away yesterday, Monday, October 18, 2021, due to complications from his infection with the Corona virus.

For 35 years, Powell held many leadership and career positions, rising to the rank of four-star general, and during that time he oversaw 28 military crises, including Operation Desert Storm in the 1991 Gulf War.

Birth and upbringing

April 5, 1937: Colin Powell was born and raised in a popular neighborhood in the multi-ethnic neighborhood of Harlem, New York, and his father immigrated to the United States from Jamaica.

Educated in public schools in New York City, he graduated from City College of New York (CCNY), where he received a BA in Geology.

- June 1958: After graduating, he participated as a reserve in the training forces of the college, and was appointed to the rank of second lieutenant.

He earned a master's degree in business administration from George Washington University.

He participated in the Vietnam War (November 1, 1955 - April 30, 1975) and was appointed commander of an aviation unit at that time.

1978: He visited Iran to ensure the durability of the Shah’s rule, where he was hosted there with an endless number of parties, military parades and flight shows. Meetings were arranged with officers, including officers from a poor social background, and everyone focused on the readiness to defend the Shah’s rule at all costs. The matter is that everyone in Iran supports the Shah.

Powell, during his visit to Iran, witnessed and did not ignore the clashes between the Islamists and the army. He also paid attention to what an American pilot in Iran had told him about the grumbling and unpreparedness of the flight base workers, especially the poor.

On his return trip and reflecting on what he saw, Powell came to the conviction that the Iranians had presented him with a shiny shell that concealed the truth.

- After the outbreak of the revolution in Iran and the joining of workers in the aviation bases from the moment it broke out, Powell commented that America's policies and the billions in cost in Iran, fell with the fall of the Shah.

Powell said that the aid facilitated the emergence of anti-American fundamentalism, and that the reason was the shah's arrogance and loss of contact with his people, and the refusal of American politicians eager to win allies in a region where there are not many friends to see but what they want to see.

National Security Adviser..Army Chief of Staff

1987: Appointed to the White House as US National Security Adviser.

1988: Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev addressed him by saying, "You, General, have to search for a new enemy, for I have decided to end the Cold War."

October 1, 1989: During the presidency of George HW Bush, he was appointed commander of the US Army Staff.

1991: Powell oversaw the second Gulf War (August 2, 1990-February 28, 1991), to overthrow the Iraqi army after Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait.

"My American Journey"... an autobiography

September 30, 1993: Powell retires from the military and writes his bestselling autobiography, My American Journey.

He began his career as a public speaker, addressing audiences across the country and abroad.

Powell chairs the American Promises Committee-Coalition for Youth, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to mobilizing people from all walks of American life to build the character and competence of young people.

1999: He criticized the NATO air raids on Yugoslavia, considering them to contradict the principles of military intervention he defined.

After Iraq's invasion of Kuwait, Powell was a supporter of the idea of ​​just imposing sanctions, and he also opposed the use of force to remove Saddam, but he rarely insisted on his positions.

2001: He took over the State Department to be the youngest general and the first black general to hold the position of US Secretary of State, during the term of President George W. Bush (Bush Jr. from 2001 to 2005).

The lie of Iraq..thousands were killed

February 5, 2003: He presented to the Security Council a file in which he focused on the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, and it turned out later that all his information was wrong.

- He is the author of a new military theory according to which the United States should seek, during every military operation it undertakes, to define clear political goals, synchronized with a military plan aimed at achieving them in a more decisive, strong and fast manner.

It killed at least 200,000 people in Iraq, led to nearly two decades of internal chaos, and precipitated unrest across the region.

- Against the backdrop of the tense relations between Syria and America, especially after the invasion of Iraq, Powell visited Damascus several times bearing American demands and warnings, but he was relatively easing the tension between the two countries, especially since the administration of President George W. Bush was full of hawks resentful of Damascus.

March 2003: During his testimony before a congressional committee, Powell said that Syria should withdraw its "occupying army" from Lebanon, the first time he described the Syrian presence in Lebanon as an occupation.

May 4, 2003: He ended two visits to Beirut and Damascus, during which he called on the Lebanese army to deploy its soldiers on the southern border, where Hezbollah is active.

December 2003: Powell met with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, as he saw that there were many areas of cooperation with Syria, and his visits to Damascus did not stop, which Washington underestimated.

October 2004: He visited Damascus again and placed before Syrian officials a list of American demands, and stressed that his country did not intend to attack Syria, but if the Syrian regime wanted to stay, it had to "adapt" to regional changes.

November 15, 2004: Powell announces his resignation as Secretary of State.

According to the Washington Post, White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card asked him to resign after succeeding Condoleezza Rice.

Confession of "lying"

September 8, 2005: Powell admitted for the first time that his speech accusing Iraq of possessing weapons of mass destruction to the United Nations in January 2003 would remain a black spot in his file.

Powell said, "It's really a black point, because I was the one who presented it to the whole world, and that was difficult and remains difficult today," adding that then-chief intelligence George Tenet believed that he was giving me correct information, before admitting that the intelligence system had not It was not working properly.

Powell said that he did not make any connection between Iraq and the events of September 11, 2001, simply because he had not seen any evidence of such a connection, before admitting that he was a fighter against his nose, justifying his drift behind Bush in his war on Iraq that President Bush had persuaded him That it is not possible to leave Iraq in violation of Security Council resolutions.

2011: Powell told Al Jazeera that he regretted providing misleading intelligence that led to the US invasion, calling it a "disgrace on my record."

He said that many of the sources cited by the intelligence community were wrong.

2012: In an interview with the Associated Press, Powell asserts that the United States "has achieved a lot of success" because "the terrible dictator of Iraq is gone."

October 25, 2012: Powell announced his support for US President Barack Obama, in his contest for the presidency against Republican candidate Mitt Romney.

2016: Powell got 3 electoral votes for the position of President of the United States, although he was not a candidate for the elections that year.

June 7, 2020: Former US President Donald Trump launched an attack on Colin Powell, who said he would "vote for Joe Biden in the presidential election", and blamed him for the Iraq war.

Trump tweeted: "Colin Powell, a real arrogant... he was responsible for getting us into the disastrous Middle East wars, and he just announced that he would vote for another arrogant, sleepy Joe Biden."

Trump added: "Didn't Powell say that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction? Iraq didn't have them, but we went to war!"

Awards and Honors

Powell has received numerous US and foreign military awards, and his civilian awards include the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Presidential Citizens' Medal, the Congressional Gold Medal, the Secretary of State's Distinguished Medal, and the Secretary of Energy's Distinguished Medal.

Many schools and other institutions are named in his honor, and he holds honorary degrees from universities and colleges across the country.

His wife.. his children.. his grandchildren

Powell married Alma Vivien Johnson of Birmingham, Alabama, and had a son, Michael (former head of the Federal Communications Commission), two daughters, Linda and Ann, and grandchildren Jeffrey and Brian.