Summary: <p>Colin Powell, former Secretary of State, Joint Chiefs chairman, and omnipresence in American foreign policy for the past 20 years, died on Monday from complications from COVID-19. He was 84-years-old and been sick for years with multiple myeloma, a rare blood cancer. </p> <p>Colin Powell was many things to many people. A symbol of the American dream. The public voice — for a time — of the Iraq War. A so-called “RINO,” or Republican-in-name-only. A <a href="https://www.wnycstudios.org/podcasts/otm/segments/130304-the-good-soldier">good soldier</a>. Though widely remembered as a barrier-breaking hero by folks across the aisle, in his death, as in life, there are those who are using Colin Powell as an opportunity for <a href="https://twitter.com/NikkiMcR/status/1450252233753378818">scoring political points</a>. </p> <p>Looking back at the life of Colin Powell, it is worth recalling that he was once one of America's most popular public officials, polling favorably among <a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/6886/powell-remains-most-popular-political-figure-america.aspx">85 percent</a> of Americans in a 2002 Gallup poll. But what Colin Powell is perhaps most remembered for is his <a href="https://www.un.org/press/en/2003/sc7658.doc.htm">2003 presentation to the UN Security Council</a> explaining the existence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. A little over a year later, Powell went on <a href="https://2001-2009.state.gov/secretary/former/powell/remarks/36100.htm">NBC's Meet the Press</a> and essentially retracted his assertion, saying it "turned out that the sourcing was inaccurate and wrong and in some cases deliberately misleading." Brooke speaks with <a href="https://twitter.com/fmkaplan">Fred Kaplan</a>, a veteran reporter on foreign policy and national security, long-time writer of <a href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/war-stories">Slate’s "War Stories" column</a>, and even longer-time husband of Brooke, about the life and legacy of Colin Powell.</p>
