"It’s a terrible paradox in the life of Colin Powell, who died Monday, that the most important moment of his celebrated career came not when he led troops under fire in Vietnam, or when he orchestrated the successful expulsion of Iraqi invaders from Kuwait in 1991, or when he became the nation’s first African American national-security adviser and Secretary of State. It came, instead, on the dais of the United Nations Security Council, in 2003, when Powell, who was then Secretary of State, made the case for the invasion of Iraq, based on the conclusion that Saddam Hussein possessed nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons, and thus had to be removed by force. The enduring image from that moment is Powell holding up a tiny vial of white powder, which stood for what was supposed to be Saddam’s anthrax, and, mortgaging his esteemed reputation and all the credibility of the U.S. government, telling the world that the U.S. had no choice but to go to war."
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Academics from the United StatesMilitary leaders from the United StatesMemoirists from the United StatesUnited States Secretaries of StateDiplomats of the United States
Original Language: English
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Sources
Colin Powell’s Fateful Moment, Dexter Filkins, The New Yorker, (October 18, 2021)
https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Colin_Powell
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Colin Powell
Colin Luther Powell (b. 5 April 1937– d. 18 October 2021) was an American politician, diplomat and four-star general who served as the 65th United States Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005. He was the first African-American Secretary of State. Prior to the elect
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