Colin Powell dies, exemplary general stained by Iraq claims

By ROBERT BURNS, ERIC TUCKER and EILEEN PUTMAN
Associated Press

WASHIINGTON (AP) — Colin Powell, former Joint Chiefs chairman and secretary of state, has died from COVID-19 complications. In an announcement on social media Monday, the family said Powell had been fully vaccinated. He had also been treated over the past few years for multiple myeloma, a blood cancer. He was 84. Powell was the first African American to serve as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and secretary of state. But his reputation was forever stained when, in 2003, he went before the U.N. Security Council and made the case for U.S. war against Iraq. He cited faulty information claiming Saddam Hussein had secretly stashed away weapons of mass destruction.