By Edwin Cooney
In less than 24 hours after General Powell's passing, something of a miracle occurred. Men and women, Republicans and Democrats from both houses and aisles of Congress, were remembering former General, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and citizen Colin Powell with both admiration and gratitude.
Although as dedicated to American military superiority and as interested in America's successful engagements in international affairs as Generals MacArthur and Dwight Eisenhower were, like the latter, General Powell was a moderate in the application of American prerogatives. When he was George Herbert Walker Bush's Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff in 1990 and ’91, he privately asserted that Saddam Hussein should be kept in office. Publicly he stated that our military objective in Iraq was to isolate Saddam Hussein's army and then proceed to kill it. After being appointed Secretary of State by George W. Bush (whom he used to call Sonny), he originally thought it was necessary to maintain Hussein in office due to the likelihood that Saddam's successor could be much worse. Nevertheless, following 9/11, Secretary of State Powell became convinced that the Iraqi leader possessed “weapons of mass destruction.” He therefore went before the United Nations on Thursday, February 5th, 2004 and declared that given the existence of such weapons in the wake of 9/11 it was necessary to occupy Iraq and remove Hussein from office. Subsequently, when it was discovered during our invasion of Iraq that no such weapons existed, Secretary Powell decided that it was time for him to go.
General Powell was neither personally or professionally flawless, a reality he never sought to hide. He later told broadcaster Barbara Walters that he considered that U.N. speech a stain on his public record.
Politically, Colin Powell was registered first as an Independent, but during the 1990s he reregistered as a Republican. In 2000, although he was inclined to support the presidential candidacy of Senator John McCain, General Powell was significantly highly regarded enough to address the GOP convention that would nominate George W. Bush and later to be appointed by President-elect Bush to be Secretary of State. He was the newly elected president's first announced cabinet member and, in view of the controversy surrounding Governor Bush's election, General Powell's appointment strengthened the new president's political legitimacy. "We're a political nation," Powell once observed. "There's nothing dirty about it!”
From time to time, Citizen Powell's political choices pleased and disappointed the partisans of both parties. His almost instinctive desire to support John McCain originally displeased the George W. Bush camp and some Conservatives were likely unhappy that his address to the 2000 Convention urged Republicans to support programs for the education and betterment of children and minorities. Having decided in 1995 that he lacked the drive to campaign for the presidency, he nevertheless felt obligated to announce his support for Senator Barack Obama two weeks before the 2008 election despite his personal high regard for Senator McCain. Although he never left the GOP, he would vote for Hillary Clinton in 2016 and for Joseph Biden in 2020. Of Donald J. Trump, Secretary Powell's judgment was harsh. "He's a national disgrace and an international pariah!” said the 4 star general.
Colin Luther Powell's death is indeed sad. However, the bipartisan and biracial approval and admiration of what he accomplished and achieved indicates that there remains a spark of national pride and even unity in these fifty states that once upon a time were united under the Union flag — but never under the Confederate flag!
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY
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