[ti:Colin Powell, former US Diplomat, General, Dies of COVID]
[by:www.21voa.com]
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[00:00.04]Colin Powell, the first Black American
[00:03.40]to serve as secretary of state and top military officer,
[00:08.84]has died at the age of 84.
[00:12.72]His family said Monday in a statement on Facebook
[00:16.72]that Powell died because of "complications from Covid 19.
[00:22.12]He was fully vaccinated."
[00:25.72]"We have lost a remarkable and loving husband,
[00:29.68]father and grandfather and a great American," the family said.
[00:35.36]Powell had been treated at Walter Reed
[00:38.68]National Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
[00:43.00]Powell was one of the leading Black Americans for many years.
[00:48.88]He served three Republican presidents in senior positions.
[00:53.88]Powell joined the army in 1962 and was wounded in Vietnam.
[01:01.84]He served as U.S. national security adviser
[01:05.68]under President Ronald Reagan from 1987 to 1989.
[01:11.92]As a four-star Army general, he was chairman
[01:15.96]of the military's Joint Chiefs of Staff
[01:18.92]under President George H.W. Bush during the 1991 Gulf War.
[01:25.68]In that position, he oversaw the U.S.-led allied forces
[01:31.08]to remove Iraqi troops from neighboring Kuwait.
[01:35.52]As Joint Chiefs chairman, he supported the idea
[01:40.56]that the U.S. should only fight if it has clear objectives
[01:45.36]with public support, enough firepower
[01:48.96]and a strategy for ending the war.
[01:52.88]During his time as secretary of state
[01:55.60]under former President George W. Bush,
[01:59.16]Powell argued before the U.N. Security Council in 2003
[02:04.64]that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was a danger to the world.
[02:10.44]Using incorrect intelligence information,
[02:14.52]he said Iraq was keeping chemical and biological weapons.
[02:19.24]Powell later said the presentation was "a blot"
[02:24.48]– or a mark of shame -- that will "always be a part of my record."
[02:31.00]Powell, a Republican, considered running for president in 1996
[02:37.08]but changed his mind because his wife Alma worried about his safety.
[02:43.08]In 2008, he supported Democrat Barack Obama,
[02:48.12]who became the first Black American elected to the White House.
[02:53.72]Powell rose from a childhood in a poor New York neighborhood
[02:58.44]to become the nation's chief diplomat.
[03:01.84]He wrote in his 1995 book My American Journey,
[03:06.76]"Mine is the story of a black kid of no early promise
[03:11.16]from an immigrant family of limited means
[03:14.40]who was raised in the South Bronx."
[03:18.24]Powell is survived by his wife, Alma, and their three children.
[03:23.76]On Monday, former President George W. Bush said
[03:27.72]that he and former first lady Laura Bush
[03:31.28]were "deeply saddened" by Powell's death.
[03:35.32]Bush wrote, "He was a great public servant" and
[03:39.32]"widely respected at home and abroad."
[03:43.52]The former president added: "And most important,
[03:47.08]Colin was a family man and a friend.
[03:50.04]Laura and I send Alma and their children our sincere condolences
[03:55.64]as they remember the life of a great man."
[03:59.64]I'm Ashley Thompson. 更多听力请访问21VOA.COM