Obituary: Colin Powell

The Secretary of State and Military General Failed to Comprehend and Defend the U.S.

Before he died this week, Colin Powell—who once pleaded for 76 minutes to the United Nations for permission to strike an enemy of the nation he served—told Barbara Walters: “I’m the one who [made the false assertion that there were “weapons of mass destruction” in Iraq] on behalf of the United States to the world, [which] will always be a part of my record.”

Powell’s admission to the sensationalistic journalist is indicative of the late secretary of state’s atrocious—this is the correct word—philosophy and legacy. To my knowledge, the only prominent American to come close to making this point is America’s 45th president, Donald Trump.

The argument that Powell was a failed leader is clear and unequivocal—if one goes by reason. Colin Powell enacted and promoted statism, militarism and religionism in America. He did so persistently, consistently, explicitly, passionately and zealously. Powell manipulated, climbed within and thrived on the military-industrial complex that Eisenhower forewa…