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Colin L. Powell

He was born in 1937 to Harlem to a shipping clerk and a seamstress. His first job was working for Jewish furniture store, where he picked up Yiddish. He then obtained a geology degree from City College of New York, where he had a C-average and joined the ROTC, which changed the trajectory of his life.

For almost 50 years, he gave his life to public service. In 1987, during the height of the Iran-Contra Affair, President Reagan tapped him to be his National Security Advisor. President George H.W. Bush asked him to become Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, where he helped oversee the "cleanest war in American history" and became a household name and one of the most trusted men in the world. Because of his impeccable reputation, President George W. Bush asked him to be Secretary of State. While at State, he was an opponent to the 2003 Invasion of Iraq, but gave a notorious factually-deceptive U.N. speech in support of the war, which hurt his credibility. In 2005, he retired from public service and became a speaker and lecturer, before he succumbed to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021.

He is looked at as one of the last few true Republicans, along with his former colleagues-James Baker, Robert Gates, Mitt Romney, and Condoleezza Rice, let's discuss the American General Colin L. Powell.

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by Anonymousreply 43April 2, 2024 5:19 AM

If he were to have ran in 1996, Clinton would have probably lost the election.

by Anonymousreply 1April 2, 2023 7:39 PM

Who fucking cares?

by Anonymousreply 2April 2, 2023 7:40 PM

Well this was interesting and informative. Thank you OP?

by Anonymousreply 3April 2, 2023 7:41 PM

He destroyed an entire lifetime of credibility in 2003 by knowingly lying about WMD by Iraq at the UN.

In 2021 he was dealing with multiple myeloma but COVID took him out. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

by Anonymousreply 4April 2, 2023 7:44 PM

Wut? He said? BEARKING?

I LOST ALL RESPECT FOR HIM..

by Anonymousreply 5April 2, 2023 7:50 PM

R3 Welcome. I want to his DL's thought on him.

On one hand, he is part of the Republican establishment who lied to get us into a war.

On the other hand, he was an honorable man who fought hard during the Persian Gulf War, but got bulldozed by neo-conservatives. After 2005, he became an outspoken critic of the political climate.

by Anonymousreply 6April 2, 2023 7:55 PM

Scooter Libby and David Addington wrote the UN speech and snuck false stuff in last minute before Powell could proof read it.

by Anonymousreply 7April 2, 2023 7:56 PM

He was no hero. He carried the water for the Bush administration and was caught there because they also provided a job to his son as the head of the FCC, even though he had no business being in that position.

He didn't 'sacrifice' his life to public service. He was a career military man. And then he allowed himself to be used as a token black to be paraded in front of the GOP so they don't look as racist as they really are.

Sorry, but the grandizing of this lying man with no real principles to speak up /against the shit he was part of is disgusting. He's no hero to me.

by Anonymousreply 8April 2, 2023 8:00 PM

R7 Bwa, ha ha! Total bullshit. He knew it was fabricated gobbledygook but like a good soldier that he was, he told the lies anyway.

by Anonymousreply 9April 2, 2023 8:04 PM

R9 I don't think so

by Anonymousreply 10April 2, 2023 8:12 PM

No mention of his My Lai coverup?

by Anonymousreply 11April 2, 2023 8:52 PM

R11 I didn't think that was a cover up. I thought there was not enough evidence.

by Anonymousreply 12April 2, 2023 9:35 PM

German intelligence made it clear that Curveball was a confirmed liar and shouldn't be taken seriously. Powell went to the UN and talked about mobile chemical weapons labs as if they actually existed. He died with a lot of blood on his hands, even if the media respected him.

by Anonymousreply 13April 3, 2023 9:20 AM

R12 how do you explain the photos of dead kids laying face down in the dirt? If that's not evidence then I don't know what is.

by Anonymousreply 14April 3, 2023 9:22 AM

HIs problem is that he couldn't commit to one political philosophy. He felt he had to embrace the Obama presidency and that embrace of liberal politics ruined him with conservatives. As people have indicated in this thread, Democrats aren't going to forgive for what he did in office under Republican presidents, so he's screwed all the way around.

by Anonymousreply 15April 3, 2023 9:25 AM

Fair points. Before the 2003 speech, he was pretty respected. He did not want to go into Iraq and called it a huge mistake. The Pottery Barn Effect, "you break it, you buy it."

by Anonymousreply 16April 3, 2023 12:50 PM

R16 And yet he went on the world stage and knowingly presented falsified evidence as facts. I never believed that Iraq had WMD but when Colin Powell made his presentation at the UN, I started to wonder whether I was not viewing the situation with an open mind. And that was the intended effect. To make doubters question whether there were actual WMD in Iraq so they can justify the war (for resources of course).

by Anonymousreply 17April 3, 2023 2:43 PM

The problem is they found Chemical Weapons of Destruction years later.

by Anonymousreply 18April 3, 2023 2:49 PM

I had forgotten he died. Now I’m wondering what was going on in my life that I could have forgotten this. The stress of the pandemic took out like 2 whole years from my memory. I have very little memory of 2021.

by Anonymousreply 19April 3, 2023 3:16 PM

R18 They found old stockpiles of corroded chemicals that were significantly less potent, which by the way the US had sold them years earlier.

by Anonymousreply 20April 3, 2023 3:42 PM

Man pretended to have integrity but he was just another sick cog in the republican war machine, willing to lie whenever needed, always putting his career before country.

One of history's minor villains at best.

by Anonymousreply 21April 3, 2023 3:44 PM

His two books, My American Journey and It Worked For Me, are pretty good.

by Anonymousreply 22September 1, 2023 6:33 PM

I always thought he was called 'Conan' Powell.

by Anonymousreply 23September 1, 2023 6:42 PM

He's dead, Jim.

by Anonymousreply 24September 1, 2023 6:45 PM

George Carlin has a good piece that includes Colin Powell and how he was only black in skin color.

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by Anonymousreply 25September 1, 2023 6:54 PM

[quote]If he were to have ran in 1996, Clinton would have probably lost the election.

Doubtful. Clinton was popular in 1996, years before Monica. The Republican party of 2008 went batshit over a black president so I don't see how they would elect a different black president12 years sooner. A lot of Republicans would probably have stayed home or voted for Pat Buchanan, and Clinton would still win.

by Anonymousreply 26September 1, 2023 8:18 PM

And he told Hilary to get her own server, like he did... LOCK HIM UP!!

Oh, never mind, he's dead.

by Anonymousreply 27September 1, 2023 8:54 PM

[quote] Scooter Libby and David Addington wrote the UN speech and snuck false stuff in last minute before Powell could proof read it.

Oh come on, the whole speech was false stuff and he knew it. He made himself the tool of the neocons, dropped all his long-articulated principles in a moment, and knowingly lied his country into a disastrous and immoral war. Died of covid, but at an advanced age, in wealth and comfort, and with much of the country sympathizing with his sad moral predicament—which he created.

by Anonymousreply 28September 1, 2023 9:04 PM

Like the good soldier that he always was he took his tongue and knowingly told the big lie.

by Anonymousreply 29September 1, 2023 9:12 PM

Why did I feel that he was married to Condoleeza Rice?

by Anonymousreply 30September 1, 2023 9:32 PM

R30 no she was his boss’s girlfriend

by Anonymousreply 31September 2, 2023 12:22 AM

R28 No. He was given the speech last minute and his staff did not have the chance to do their proper due diligence.

We also judge him for one lack of judgment. It is well documented that he was against Iraq.

by Anonymousreply 32September 2, 2023 1:02 AM

So articulate!

by Anonymousreply 33September 2, 2023 1:05 AM

Opposed gays in the military until the end Fuck him.

by Anonymousreply 34September 2, 2023 1:14 AM

R34 The last paragraph of the article:

"Powell announced in 2010 that he’d changed his views on gays in the military. In 2012, he announced that he had “no problem” with same-sex marriage."

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by Anonymousreply 35September 2, 2023 1:20 AM

Both Powell and Robert Gates are okay with gays in the military

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by Anonymousreply 36September 2, 2023 1:22 AM

Interesting Interview

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by Anonymousreply 37April 2, 2024 3:37 AM

Cynical, spineless and quite far from books mart. I guess he failed up and up and up.

by Anonymousreply 38April 2, 2024 3:43 AM

R19

Same.

by Anonymousreply 39April 2, 2024 3:44 AM

He IS Colin Powell!

by Anonymousreply 40April 2, 2024 3:51 AM

I agree with R4, Powell knew, and did it anyway!

Just like a Trumper he was.

by Anonymousreply 41April 2, 2024 3:53 AM

R8 is spot on. I think I wrote it though.

by Anonymousreply 42April 2, 2024 5:00 AM

I remember the joke "You know the country is fucked when it's run by a bush, a dick and a colon."

by Anonymousreply 43April 2, 2024 5:19 AM
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