Secretary Colin L. Powell Departs

If you have not heard, you will. There is sad news this morning. The Powell Family released the news this morning. General Colin L. Powell, 84, passed from complications related to COVID-19. They posted the sad news on Facebook, which combines other streams of recent news with something personal and profound.

At the time of Operation DESERT STORM, he was Chairman of the Joint Chiefs, and the daily intensity of combat operations soon exceeded the normal pace of intelligence operations in the J2 organization, then headed by Admiral Mike McConnell. His solution to the information situation was to create a small cell of officers familiar with battle damage assessment. By shear luck a couple of us were selected to take the overnight reports on BDA, package them in a clear assessment, make the pitch to the three-star ranked Operations Deputies early on, and then with all the bugs in the presentation neatly bulldozed, make the presentation to Secretary Cheney and Chairman Powell.

It only went on for a month or so, not that anyone was counting the days. But it was nothing short of amazing to parade the best approximation of the truth to the most powerful military group on the planet. General Powell was as impressive as the larger response will be later today. I think I am accurate in sharing what we felt- that this man had the capability to have succeeded in the Army of his time, Vietnam conflict in person, and eventually become President.

It did not work out that way, and the fact that he was not America’s first President of Color still saddens me. We could have gone down a different path, but he chose not to pursue that path.

The news of his passing caught me up short on this sunny day in Virginia’s Piedmont. His world has now passed from the scene, as ours will shortly enough. But a treasure in an otherwise accidental life like mine was the opportunity to see greatness in person, to hear a story or two about the joy the General felt fussing with his Volvo cars, or joking with his immediate staff in a personal and confidence-building manner.

From the beginning of the tumult of tribute this morning, they are reporting conflicts about Iraq and the weapons of mass destruction issue that still confounds us. I know what I thought at the time. We had spent weeks bombing a target set of bunkers associated with chemical weapons storage. We spent a significant effort on that project, and there was no question that we thought the targets were valid. I have never been troubled by the decisions associated with the bombing, nor the later conflict of whether some remained un Saddam’s control or not.

I do know this. Colin Powell was a man of remarkable integrity, courage and intelligence. He was one of my heroes.

Copyright 2021 Vic Socotra
www.vicsocotra.com