Colin Powell, American general, head of American diplomacy under George W. Bush, died Monday, October 18 at 84 years of complications related to Covid-19. On franceinfo, the historian Thomas Snégaroff returned to his paradoxical and exceptional journey. Indeed, according to him Colin Powell “was both the embodiment of absolute amorality and ended his career as the epitome of morality in politics”.
franceinfo: Has Colin Powell been remembered as the man of war in Iraq and of lies?
Thomas Snégaroff: Yes, reluctantly. He often explained it and even called for an investigation in 2011, to find out where this lie came from. Colin Powell was the agent of a state lie concocted by the United States, its secret services and its allies. This aimed to prove to the whole world, on February 5, 2003 at the United Nations (UN), that the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein was in the process of acquiring weapons of mass destruction and that, consequently, it was necessary to start a preventive war. Colin Powell was then the voice of the United States as US Secretary of State. There will remain this photo of him with a vial of anthrax in his hands, showing what the Iraqi regime was capable of. The little story goes that he was not at all happy with the speech he was supposed to give when he found out shortly before delivering it. It was not him but his services who wrote it. But Colin Powell was a man of duty, a soldier. When the American president gave an order, the soldier he was had to make that speech. (…) He was the transmitter of a false message. That doesn’t make him the chief liar, who was a bit above it. It’s Tony Blair and the others.
Colin Powell had also admitted that this speech was a stain on his reputation, on a rather incredible military and political career …
He was indeed sent to Vietnam by President Kennedy at a very young age. He was the first American Chief of Staff of African American descent. His family was from Jamaica, but he was Black to Americans. He was in charge of the first Iraq war there. He was the first black man appointed Secretary of State before Condoleezza Rice, who succeeded him. (…) Colin Powell was also, at one point, approached to be the candidate of the Republican Party for the presidential election, in particular in 1996, where finally it is Bob Dole who took this place. Powell was also thought of as vice president on several occasions, because he embodied something of authority, something racial – in the American sense of the word – that was very strong in the United States. He was therefore indeed a political figure. Then he broke ties with the Republican Party, first by calling for a vote for Obama in 2008 and 2012, and then even more, when he saw Donald Trump in power, saying he was a liar. When he witnessed the insurgency on Capitol Hill on January 6 by very violent pro-Trump activists, he said: “I no longer consider myself a Republican.” It may have been one of his last truly political statements. He embodies, for many Republicans and many Americans, a kind of old Republican Party, which still has a moral compass. Which is paradoxical, since he was both the embodiment of absolute amorality by lying to the whole world, in any case by being a messenger of this lie, and subsequently, he ended his career as being the example of morality in politics, even if it means getting angry with his friends in the Republican Party.
Is that the image he leaves with the Americans?
Yes, he is someone who had a very good image. Americans are quite touched, there is a strong emotion in the United States because he has become the embodiment, on the one hand, of the success of someone who had not made the military academy of Westpoint , which was extraordinary to become chief of staff. He had a lot of talent and courage. He was wounded twice in Vietnam, and we know that in the United States, patriotism goes largely through the flags and the army. So he had that face, but also that of a man who had succeeded in climbing all the political levels, and to say when necessary that things were morally reprehensible. He had an impressive political career.