Name:   MartiniMan - Subject:   Patriot has died Date:   10/18/2021 3:17:09 PM

Lot to admire about Colin Powell, especially given he was a geologist like yours truly.  :-)  As for thinking he should have been our first black President I don't think he would have won the primaries and been the nominee.  He was out of step with many issues important to GOP primary voters.  I am also dubious he would have attracted a lot of African American votes but you never know.

I am still unconvinced the WMD issue was some nefarious plot and not a basic intelligence failure but I suppose it's possible.  No doubt Iraq had WMD as it was well documented that they used them on the Kurds.  But whether they still did when the invasion happened is questionable.  There was lots of evidence of WMD collected post invasion but they never found the smoking gun so to speak, i.e., stockpiles of chemical or biological weapons.  Whether they were moved into Syria prior to the invasion or not, while possible, has never been proven.  Either way, Powell did his job as best he could making the case to the U.N. based on the information he was given by the intelligence community.  And yes, he told Bush if you break it you bought it and no, Bush didn't listen.  No one should miss Saddam but I think we now know that in Muslim controlled countries trying to modernize them with western liberal, democratic 20th century values is a fools errand.  They are still stuck in the 6th century.

His late in life decision to leave the Republican party could hardly have surprised anyone given he only seemed to endorse Democrat candidates for political office.  Long before he officially left the GOP he was not a Republican.  Sorry to see him succumb to COVID complications despite being vaccinated.  Having cancer left him with little in reserve to fight an infection much like many people his age.  For sure he was someone who did and should have gotten the vaccines and should probably have been first in line for the booster although in looking at the data I am not sure a booster suited for the initial variant would have helped, but it certainly couldn't hurt. 

Hope he rests in peace and his family gets through a tough time.