Former US Secretary of State Collin Powell dies at 84 due to Covid complications. Powell was fully vaccinated but the infection was taking his life.
“We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American,” the family said in a statement on social media.
Powell was the first black person to become the US Secretary of State. He was born in 1937 to Jamaican immigrants in the US.
He was also a war hero and were unanimously accepted by all parties beyond political disagreements. He had also served under four different presidents of the country.
But Powell faced strong criticism and took a fall in his popularity following his speech against Iraq in 2003. In February that year, he alleged Iraq was holding mass destruction weapons in a speech at United Nations Security Council. But the evidence he given was later found to be false. In March 2003, US invaded Iraq.
Two years later, he admitted he was wrong and said,
“It’s a blot… and will always be a part of my record. It was painful. It’s painful now,” in a 2005 interview with ABC News.
Powell had participated in Vietnam War during 1962-63. Again he had been sent to Gulf War against Iraq in 1991.
He was also one of the military advisors of John F. Kennedy (there were thousands of them). He had also been appointed to investigate the My Lai massacre, where the American soldiers killed hundreds of unarmed civilians in Vietnam.
Powell received Purple Heart but was criticized for not specifically indicating the wrongdoing of the army in the report. But he said he was not among the army unit that killed civilians and he reached there only after the incident.
Powell had received honours including Presidential Medal of Freedom. He married wife Alma in 1962 and they have three children.