Consider This from NPR - Colin Powell's Complicated Legacy

Episode Date: October 19, 2021

Colin Powell's life was marked by public service, first as a soldier in Vietnam and then eventually as President George W. Bush's secretary of state. By that time he had already held many prominent positions in government, including national security adviser and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He was the first African American to hold each of these roles. But Powell's story will always be entwined with the Iraq War. Although he argued against the invasion in private White House meetings, he did see it through. And he famously defended the strategy on a national stage before the United Nations. NPR National Correspondent Don Gonyea reports on Powell's enormous and complicated legacy. In participating regions, you'll also hear a local news segment that will help you make sense of what's going on in your community.Email us at [e-mail] more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy

This message comes from Indiana University. Indiana University is committed to moving the world forward, working to tackle some of society's biggest challenges. Nine campuses, one purpose. Creating tomorrow, today. More at iu.edu. There was a period of time when Colin Powell and Madeleine Albright worked closely together. Well, it was very interesting because we really did argue because that's what you're supposed to do. At the time, Albright was ambassador to the U.N. Powell was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Both served under President Clinton. When you meet as principals in the Situation Room, it's important for people to state their

views. And he and I were coming at things from a different perspective. And that's because Powell was a holdover from the previous Republican administration. Albright told NPR's Steven Skeap that their arguments were centered on conflicts in the Balkans. She supported a stronger U.S. troop presence. Powell didn't. When he wrote his book, he said I practically gave him an aneurysm with my way that I wanted to use force in the Balkans. And so I called him up and I said, Colin, an aneurysm? And he said, yes, you didn't understand that our soldiers weren't toy soldiers. Now Albright would go on to become the first female Secretary of State

and Powell would succeed her as the first black Secretary of State. Today, Powell's tenure is looked at as a time when the U.S. overstepped its military bounds. He helped lead the invasion of Iraq, and he famously argued in favor of the strategy to the U.N. Leaving Saddam Hussein in possession of weapons of mass destruction for a few more months or years is not an option, not in a post-September 11th world.

My colleagues... Those weapons were never found. Powell later admitted that his intel turned out not to be credible. And the war in Iraq has now outlived him. But Madeleine Albright says Powell should be known for more than that. He was a grateful American. He knew that public service was important. He knew where he came from and what had to be done.

Consider this. Colin Powell will be remembered as a trailblazer in his military and public service, stepping into many roles never before held by a Black man. But his legacy will also be overshadowed by a conflict the U.S. is still grappling with today. From NPR, I'm Adi Cornish. It's Tuesday, October 19th. This message comes from NPR sponsor Smartwool. They're committed to sustainability, using natural, responsibly sourced merino wool in their gear and recycled materials in their packaging. Shop Smartwool base layers, socks, and accessories at smartwool.com. This message comes from WISE, the app for doing things in other currencies.

Send, spend, or receive money internationally, and always get the real-time mid-market exchange rate with no hidden fees. Download the WISE app today or visit wise.com. T's and C's apply. It's Consider This from NPR. A few months ago, Colin Powell spoke with Bob Woodward of the Washington Post. And he was talking about his health. Well, you see, I've got to go to the hospital about two or three times a week.

I've got multiple myeloma cancer and I've got Parkinson's disease. But otherwise, I'm fine. Oh, no. I'm so sorry. Don't say no and I'm so sorry. Don't say no and don't feel sorry for her. God's sake, she's 85 years old. God has something. Well, you... And I don't feel...

I haven't lost a day of life fighting these two diseases. I'm in good shape. Powell kept fighting until he died from complications of COVID-19 this week. He was 84 years old. He was a great boss. He was a great boss. He was a great mentor. And he was a great friend. Powell is remembered by one of his former chiefs of staff this way. When you can have a friend and a mentor and a boss all wrapped up in one, it's a good thing to come to work every day. Retired Colonel Bill Smullen told NPR that his

former boss was proud of his many firsts. He was the first Black national security advisor, the first Black chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and of course, as we said, the first Black secretary of state. So he was proud of the fact that you can achieve greatness in life regardless of who you are, what color you are, what religion you are, as long as you have great character and competence and credibility. When it comes to the Iraq war, Smellin says, Powell was open about what he felt. He told me it would be a black mark on his legacy. But I would just like to say that when the question came up, should we invade Iraq, Colin Powell turned to

President Bush and said, I don't believe so, Mr. President, that the consequences are going to be too heavy. Smullen says Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney ultimately convinced President Bush to invade. And then Powell was asked to give the speech to the U.N. justifying that decision. He regretted having, first of all, to give that talk. But more importantly, he was not in agreement. His legacy may be marred, but he stood for the right thing. So it's a complicated legacy. It's also an enormous legacy that Colin Powell leaves behind, which isn't bad for a man who once described his early years this way.

Here he is in a TED Talk. I was not a great student. I was a public school kid in New York City. And I didn't do well at all. Straight C everywhere. He went to Morris High School in the Bronx, class of 1954, then City University of New York. It was there that Powell says he found his true calling, the military. He enlisted in the school's Reserve Officer Training Program, or ROTC. I found my place. I found discipline. I found structure. I found people that were like me and I liked.

Here's how he described that moment to NPR in 2012. And I fell in love with the Army that first few months in ROTC, and it lasted for the next 40-odd years. NPR national political correspondent Don Gagne has this remembrance of Colin Powell. Powell says he found in the army a culture where your race or background or income level didn't define you. You could find a path to success. In the 60s, he did two tours in Vietnam, the first in 1962 when the U.S. was mostly advising the South Vietnamese military. We were there to save the world from communism, and if this is where it popped up, by gosh, here's where we're going to do it. A second tour came in 1968. By then, the U.S. had a half million

troops in Vietnam, and Powell's early optimism was gone. He recalled those days on C-SPAN in 1995. We were essentially in a war and we weren't sure how we were going to get out of this war. We weren't sure that we were prepared to make the investment that would be required to either win or get out with honor. After the war, Powell rose through the ranks and vowed to learn from the mistakes of Vietnam and to work to restore Americans' faith in their armed forces. A major test of both came in 1990. Iraq's Saddam Hussein invaded and occupied Kuwait, a U.S. ally. George H.W. Bush was president. There is no justification whatsoever for this outrageous and brutal act of aggression. By now, Powell was chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Operation Desert Storm,

as it was called, ended quickly with a decisive victory. And Powell, thanks to daily press briefings, became a household name. The public loved his clear, no-nonsense approach. Our strategy to go after this army is very, very simple. First, we're going to cut it off, and then we're going to kill it. Shortly afterward, Paul retired from the military. He wrote a memoir, and was immediately seen as a potential presidential candidate. Ultimately, he decided against seeking office, but did declare that he was a Republican. Still, public service beckoned when President-elect George W. Bush chose him to be Secretary of State. He is a tower of strength

and common sense. When you find somebody like that, you have to hang on to him. Then in that first year in office, the terror attacks of 9-11. The war in Afghanistan followed. Then, President Bush started pressing for another war in Iraq. The president said Saddam Hussein possessed WMDs, weapons of mass destruction, that he was a threat that needed to be removed. Administration hardliners, including Vice President Dick Cheney, urged swift action. Secretary of State Powell had doubts. Powell did convince the president to first go to the United Nations to get support. That's when Bush asked him to go make the case himself. Powell first met with U.S. intelligence

officials to hear the evidence they had gathered. He then delivered a dramatic presentation to the U.N. in early 2003. Here you see 15 munitions bunkers in yellow and red outlines. The four that are in red squares represent active chemical munitions bunkers. But skeptical allies were not convinced, so the war was launched without U.N. backing. Overwhelming force quickly removed Saddam Hussein from power, but no WMDs were ever found, and the U.S. got bogged down for years. Powell would later look back at his U.N. speech and say he'd been given wrong information by intelligence agencies he'd trusted. But it turned out that the sourcing was inaccurate and wrong and in some cases deliberately misleading. And for that, I am disappointed and I regret it.

Colin Powell's previously stellar reputation was damaged by the war and by that speech. He left the Bush administration after one term. In retirement, Colin Powell spent time at his foundation, working as a mentor for young African Americans. But in 2008 came one more important moment. That's when Powell, a Republican, endorsed Democrat Barack Obama for president. This was on NBC's Meet the Press. He has met the standard of being a successful president, being an exceptional president. I think he is a transformational figure. It was Powell very publicly rejecting the GOP, but it was also one iconic African-American endorsing a younger man trying to break the country's ultimate racial

barrier. Throughout his life, Powell was often asked about race in America. In 1994, he spoke to the graduating class at the historically black Howard University. I stand here today as a direct descendant of those Buffalo Soldiers and of the Tuskegee Airmen and all the black men and women who have served the nation in uniform, all of whom, all of whom who served in their time and in their way and with whatever opportunity existed at that time to break down the walls of discrimination and racism, to make the path easier for those of us who came after them. Colin Powell was never a frontline activist in the American civil rights movement,

but his legacy is one of breaking barriers. He worked through institutions, the military, in politics, through philanthropy, seeking to create opportunities for those who would follow him. NPR National Political Correspondent Don Gagne. You're listening to Consider This from NPR. I'm Adi Cornish.