Though Powell’s family said at the time of his death that he was fully vaccinated against COVID-19, it’s been widely reported that he had Parkinson’s and had beendiagnosed with multiple myeloma, a form of blood cancer that suppresses the immune system.
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Powell’s son Michael, his daughter Annemarie, his Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage and Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who served in PresidentBill Clinton’s administration, all spoke during the funeral for the admired four-star general who broke barriers as the first Black secretary of state and 12th chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
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After acknowledging the Powell family and thanking the VIPs in the front row across from them in the church, Armitage quoted Eleanor Roosevelt in his tribute.
“If, at the end, one can say this man used to the limit the powers that God granted him, he wasworthy of the love and respect and of the sacrifices of many people made in order that he might achieve what he deemed to be his task, then that life has been lived well and there are no regrets,” he said. “Does that sound like somebody that you know? It seems like the husband, the father, the grandfather of the Powell family.”
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“My heart is sad, for I have lost a friend,” Albright said from the podium, as she began to share memories of her a friendship and service with Powell.
“In 1993 when I began serving as America’s ambassador to the U.N., Gen. Colin Powell was already in his final months as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. At White House meetings, I came equipped with a yellow pad. He brought a laser pointer and an array of multicolored slides. I wore a pin. He wore a lot of medals. I was a mere mortal female civilian. In the wake of Operation Desert Storm, he was the hero of the Western World,” she said.
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“My father is frequently remembered as a problem solver,” he continued. “While his solutions to world problems may have been elegant, his fixes around the house were a bit more kludgy. He believed he could cheaply fix anything with a little duct tape, some wire and a can of spray paint. He’d even propose a solution for a non-existent problem just to solve his curiously about how something worked.”
Coronavirus safety protocols, including the use of masks, were in place for Friday’s service at the Washington National Cathedral, where state funerals for four presidents — Dwight D. Eisenhower, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan and George H. W. Bush — have been held. The church has also hostedprayer services for newly sworn-in presidentsfollowing their inaugurations.
In 1989, Powell was promoted to a four-star general and became chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff under George H.W. Bush, putting him on the national stage and in charge of the 1990 Gulf War. He continued his role as chairman into the Clinton Administration.
Powell became the 65th Secretary of State in January 2001, serving in that role for the second Bush Administration until January 2005. His tenure at State become controversial due in part to his role in the Iraq War and the U.S. effort to oust Saddam Hussein.
Speaking to theUnited Nations in a 2003 speech, Powell laid out the Bush administration’s rationale for the invasion of Iraq, saying there was “no doubt” that Hussein had hidden chemical and biological weapons in Iraq. Intelligence would later confirm that such a weapons program was nonexistent. Speaking toFrontlinein 2006, Powell later called that speech “a great intelligence failure.”
source: people.com
