Former Secretary of
State Colin Powell has died due to
complications from Coronavirus.
He was 84 years old and yes,
he was fully vaccinated.
However, he had a compromised
immune system as a result of
other conditions and
other ailments he had.
So we'll talk a little bit about
that, but also more importantly
talk about his legacy and
some of the things that might
have been left out of the corporate
media's reporting of his death.
Now Powell also had multiple
myeloma, which is a cancer
that forms in plasma cells and
diminishes the body's
immune response.
So for those who might be terrified
of the fact that he was
fully vaccinated, yet
died due to COVID complications
just understand that he had other
conditions that made him far
more susceptible to COVID symptoms.
And he was expected to
get a booster shot soon he was
scheduled to get one but
he didn't make it to that
appointment of course, he passed
away before he could do that.
Now- >> Anna before you go on.
So the most of what we're going to
discuss is his career because
it's super interesting one that is
complicated, new ones good sides,
both sides, bad sides to it,
but on the COVID front.
This is exactly why we wanted
people to be vaccinated so
that they wouldn't spread COVID to
people who were immunocompromised
because of other complications,
like the cancers that they have, in
this case the cancer specifically
made his immune system vulnerable.
That was the type of cancer that it
was, right.
Well, then he is incredibly
susceptible to dying from COVID.
And presumably, obviously we know
for a fact a lot of people around
him who are just generally speaking
in the public that are Republicans
say, I don't care.
I don't care if this leads to a
high probability that you will die.
I don't want to wear a mask.
I don't want to get a vaccine.
And my wants and needs and hobbies
are more important than your life.
And I got a hobby called.
I will, you know carry around
don't tread on me flags and I go to
protest and it's so much fun and
I pretend to be a patriot.
And for that hobby
Colin Powell died.
>> Yeah, and honestly,
the whole coronavirus pandemic from
beginning to where we are today
needlessly turned into, and I've
said this a billion times, I will
say it again a culture war issue.
It didn't need to be a culture war
issue but it became one because
the powerful people in this country
would want us to debate about
pretty much anything other than the
economic system that they created
to benefit and enrich themselves
while everyone else is suffering.
So let's just be clear about
that, okay?
It didn't need to be a culture war
issue, it became one and yeah,
people are dying as
a result of that.
Now, with that out of the way,
let's talk a little bit about who
Colin Powell was what his career
entailed and how complicated his
past really was now,
he was the first African American
national security
adviser under President Reagan.
Then he became the Chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff under both
George HW Bush and Bill Clinton.
And then finally he was
the first black secretary
of state under George W Bush.
Now this is where his career is
worth getting into the details
of, okay?
So in a speech before the United
nations, in February of 2003,
Powell showed what he said was
evidence from US intelligence that
illustrated that the Iraqi military
was misleading United Nations
inspectors and concealing weapons
of mass destruction.
Okay, that speech is probably
the most important part of his
career, because of course later
we discovered that
Saddam Hussein did not have weapons
of mass destruction, and he later
regretted giving that speech before
the UN Security Council.
I want to show you a snippet of it
and then we'll discuss.
>> Hussein has pursued his ambition
to dominate Iraq and
the broader Middle East using
the only means he knows.
Intimidation, coercion and
annihilation of all those who
might stand in his way.
For Saddam Hussein possession of
the world's most deadly weapons
is the ultimate trump card.
The one he must hold to fulfill his
ambition.
We know that Saddam Hussein
is determined to keep his weapons
of mass destruction.
He's determined to make more,
given Saddam Hussein's history
of aggression, given what we
know of his grandiose plans,
given what we know of his terrorist
associations and
given his determination to exact
revenge on those who pose him.
Should we take the risk that he
will not someday use these weapons
at a time and a place and
in a manner of his choosing at
a time when the world is in a much
weaker position to respond.
The United States will not and
cannot run that risk to
the American people 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 11 world.
>> Now that was a pivotal speech
because that was what
essentially helped to persuade the
international community to allow
for this pre emptive war in Iraq.
And of course Saddam Hussein had
nothing to do with 911,
Iraq had nothing to do with 911.
And very clearly there he's using
the fear mongering associated
with 911 in order to create this
persuasive argument in
favor of the pre emptive War,
which by the way, ended up being
a complete utter disaster.
Hundreds of 1000s of civilians died
as a result and
of course inspectors later said
that weapons of mass destruction
did not exist in Iraq.
In 2005,
two years after Powell speech,
before the UN, a government report
concluded that the intelligence
community was dead wrong and
it's claimed that Iraq was holding
weapons of mass destruction prior
to the United States invasion.
>> So let me tell you the backstory
because we were on air covering
every detail of that.
And he shows you exactly
who Colin Powell was.
So his career is a really
interesting one of strength and
weakness.
Strength in how he rose up,
he did two tours in Vietnam.
By the way,
he was wounded twice and
came out of that.
Being the first black man to
be national security adviser.
And chairman of the joint chiefs of
staff and secretary of state,
that's a hell of a career.
Now, that's where a lot of people
will leave it, but understanding
that in order to do all those
things, he also had to go along and
get along, right, or vice versa.
And he had to be part of
the establishment.
There was no one who was going to
be the first like national security
advisor, certainly to a Republican
president who was going to say,
hey, you know what?
We should stop defense.
That's not a good idea, right.
No, he was going to be in favor
of defense spending until the cows
came home.
Whether we were going to wars or
not going to wars, he was always
going to tell you to increase
the military budget and the defense
contractors loved Colin Powell.
That's a fact.
And so now people
will get uncomfortable with that in
Washington, because they're like,
no, no, no, I knew him,
he was a really nice guy.
I actually think that's true from
what everybody says,
think they're all lying.
Personally, I'm sure he was
a terrific guy, but that doesn't
excuse going along with the system
that we have where we funnel almost
all of our resources to defense
contractors, instead of to our kids
to healthcare to education,
etc >> Alright he was working for
defense contractors until
the very end.
I mean, I don't know why anyone
in Washington would be shocked and
chagrined by that kind of
commentary.
That's what he was immeshed in.
Your mom's career.
>> Yeah, Hannah,
that's exactly right.
If there were real reporters, they
would explain the whole context you
know how civilized we are.
>> But that's not who they are.
They people in Washington know
each other like each other.
And they basically support
each other.
The powerful,
protect other powerful people.
That's just the reality.
So when you see news, you're seeing
it through the prism of power.
That's how power perceives it.
Okay, now here we're independent,
so we tell you the truth.
Now, finally,
from my perspective, we'll get to
that clip that Anna showed you.
Look, he did two things there, but
then understand that it isn't about
him being evil.
Now this is the second half of his
career where instead of strength,
he had weakness, so he knew that a
lot of things he said weren't true.
He certainly had a giant
inclination.
They weren't true, let alone
the weapons of mass destruction.
He talked about ties to terrorists
in that clip, Colin Powell full
well knew that there weren't any
ties to Al Qaeda and that
Saddam Hussein opposed Al Qaeda.
He knew that for a fact.
And then him talking about all that
he could attack at any moment.
He were the Chairman of
the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
And as a military expert,
you thought Saddam Hussein
might attack us?
Well, that would be suicide.
If you knew he wasn't
going to do that.
You're talking about maybe Kuwait,
but we already went through that.
And he got through you and Bush and
others.
He got pushed back on that.
He knew he couldn't do that again.
So that was also especially given
his expertise and unmitigated lies.
So let's be honest about what
happened in that situation.
All right, finally, why the
weakness because everyone involved
there from Powell to Negroponte,
to tenant who you saw in
the background, the CIA directors,
defense directors, and etc.
I should say a director of
intelligence.
They were all manipulated by
Dick Cheney.
This was Cheney in the neo
cons agenda.
I remember before that meeting,
Colin Powell didn't really
want to do that speech.
And Cheney said to him,
this is a compromise.
Look we're going to drive you out
unless if you're not part of
the agenda.
What you could do is here you could
do a mitigated careful speech in
your own language and your own way
of being careful about it.
But you gotta do this speech
otherwise you're not with us.
And there he was profoundly weak.
And then he said to this dying day,
literally that he regretted that
speech, and
it was a blot on his career.
>> Yeah, >> We should regret it,
because it was filled with lies and
it was filled with weakness.
>> Yeah, I think you're being way
too generous to him, right.
How he would ever buy for
even a second that
that was a compromise, right.
I have no doubt that there was
a tremendous amount of pressure for
him to give that speech.
That speech was
the speech that helped to persuade
the international community to
support the United States.
In that pre emptive war,
which again became a complete and
utter disaster, and look,
to be fair, I'll read you his
remorse his regrets.
He says, Powell later said his
speech before the UN was a blot
on his record, and recognize that
it would be a part of his legacy,
adding that he regretted
delivering the remarks, but that
wasn't the only blot on his record.
Remember, there were multiple war
crimes committed under
the Bush administration,
including the so-called enhanced
interrogation slash torture,
just pure torture and
he signed off on that.
In fact, Jake reported on that.
When an ABC news report gave
the details of various Bush
Administration officials, including
Colin Powell signing off on it.
Let's watch.
>> First of all,
you know what's devastating?
Colin Powell, he was in the media.
We always talk about how
Colin Powell is so
bad he was against the Iraq war.
Later he wanted having
objections to it.
Torture when people began to find
out how bad it was Abu Ghraib, etc.
But he was in the meetings and
he signed off on it personally.
That's a mistake you don't
recover from.
So the CIA now on the detainee
treatment, they would come back and
say, all right, look,
we have a new detainee and we need
permission to go ahead and do your
ask interrogation techniques again.
And every time they take it to
the principles and Cheney Rumsfeld,
Powell Rice, they all, okay, go
ahead and torture that heating and
they say and we're not going
to just gently ask, we're going to
ask for all the different things
that you mention here.
Can we waterboard?
Yes, you can waterboard him.
Can we put them in freezing
conditions?
You strip him naked,
sick dogs on him, humiliate him it
degrade his religion etc.
So can we do all these things.
Rumsfeld check, Ashcroft check.
So sure you can,
frame it as a tremendous weakness,
but how many times do you just go
along with what the war criminals,
ask you to do?
>> No that's exactly the defining
question of Colin Powell career and
that's a shame but that's exactly
it if you're being honest about it,
and a lot of people in Washington
are in I could say a funny thing
you're understandably not honest.
Because they knew him.
They revered him.
They're all part of
the establishment.
So they don't want to tell you
the establishment starts endless
wars and lies about it and does
unspeakable things, and then has
the media largely cover up for it.
Now you can watch other obits,
the Colin Powell today and see if
they covered it with any degree of
nuance and details that we did.
Did any of them tell you that he
signed off on torture?
But he did.
Maybe that makes you uncomfortable,
but it's a fact.
And so I think he did it out of
weakness.
Does that excuse it not 1% it
doesn't really matter.
The bottom line is you gave
that speech.
Yeah, Cheney tricked you into
thinking that it was compromise and
I talked to his chief of staff
Lawrence Wilkerson, who
even more regretted that speech and
was very honest about it.
This is a long time ago.
But too late,
it wasn't a compromise.
It was filled with
every lie there was.
It did lead to the war.
You were used and
you're okay with it.
A person of outstanding moral
character would have said no,
not on my watch.
We're not going to torture people.
And we're not going to lie to get
America into
a war it shouldn't be in,
that wasn't who Colin Powell was.
Later he again showed some courage
by saying,
enough is enough on republicans and
he drew the line against Trump.
And you know it's damning with
faint praise, but it's true and
you should know that too and
at the very end of his life, he
went further and said, that's it.
After January 6th,
he came out and said,
I'm not even a republican anymore.
This is too much to bear, they're
going in a very wrong direction
here against our democracy.
So you can say, such as it is,
that was an act of courage.
So it's a complicated story you
should know all of.