Europe 1 with AFP 2:31 p.m., October 18, 2021
Former head of US diplomacy, Colin Powell died at the age of 84 from "complications related to Covid-19". The first African-American to have held the post of Chief of Staff of the armed forces, he then defended the American intervention in Iraq in 2003, considering that his intervention at the United Nations was a stain on his reputation.
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.
"We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, and grandfather, and a great American," they said in a statement posted on social media, adding that he was "fully vaccinated."
Colin Powell died at Walter Reed Hospital, located in suburban Washington, where US presidents are often treated.
A long speech to the UN on February 5, 2003
Colin Powell was the first African-American to hold the post of Chief of the Defense Staff, before becoming head of US diplomacy under the Republican presidency of George W. Bush. Advocate of the war in Iraq, Colin Powell had made on February 5, 2003, before the Security Council of the United Nations, a long speech on the weapons of mass destruction (WMD) allegedly held by Iraq, arguments which were used to justify the invasion of the country.
The former foreign minister later admitted that this performance 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 that will always be part of my record. "
Born April 5, 1937 in Harlem, Colin Powell grew up in New York City, where he studied geology.
He had started his military career in 1958. First stationed in Germany, he was then sent to Vietnam as military adviser to John F. Kennedy.