PHOTOS: Colin Powell’s life in public service

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President George W. Bush, with national security adviser Condoleezza Rice, Secretary of State Colin Powell and Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld appear at the White House Rose Garden in June 2002. Powell’s time in the administration would be defined by the beginning of the war in Iraq.





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Colin Powell, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, references Iraqi troops in Kuwait during a briefing at the Pentagon on Jan. 23, 1991.





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Gen. Colin Powell, head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, tours the bombed courtyard of the Panamanian Defense Force Comandancia in Panama City during the U.S. invasion of Panama on Jan. 5, 1990.





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President Ronald Reagan meets with Secretary of State George Shultz, along with national security adviser Colin Powell and White House Chief of Staff Howard Baker, in the Oval Office on Feb. 19, 1988, to discuss Shultz’s trip for a series of pre-summit meetings with Kremlin leadership.





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Newly named national security adviser Lt. Gen. Colin Powell poses with his family after his appointment to that position in November 1987.





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Author Interviews
‘It Worked For Me’: Life Lessons From Colin Powell

He developed what would be known as the «Powell Doctrine» during that time — that U.S. military action should be a last resort if there is a clear risk to national security, there should be strong public support for it and there should be an exit strategy from the conflict where there is military action.





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President George H.W. Bush addresses reporters on Aug. 22, 1990, in Kennebunkport, Maine, flanked by Defense Secretary Dick Cheney (L) and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. Colin Powell, following a meeting dedicated to the military situation in the Gulf.





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National
Colin Powell in 2011 on the cost of the Iraq War and how 9/11 changed the world

One of his most memorable public speeches came on Feb. 5, 2003, when he gave a lengthy presentation to the United Nations detailing evidence of weapons of mass destruction said to be under the control of Saddam Hussein in Iraq.





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Secretary of State Colin Powell’s presentation to the United Nations on Feb. 5, 2003 claimed that Iraq was holding stockpiles of weapons of mass destruction, which turned out not to exist.





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Secretary of State Colin Powell meets in the President’s Emergency Operations Center after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001 in Washington, D.C. Powell was in Peru on the morning of the attacks.





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Secretary of State Colin Powell gets a pat on the cheek form national security advisor Condoleezza Rice during a meeting with President George W. Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in the Oval Office at the White House on May 7, 2002.





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President Barack Obama delivers remarks following a meeting with present and former national security leaders at the White House on Nov. 13, 2015. Obama met with the national security leaders on the national security implications of the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact. Powell was among those who attended.





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Colin Powell arrives to pay his respects at the casket of the late former President George H.W. Bush at the U.S. Capitol, on Dec. 4, 2018.





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Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff and Secretary of State Colin Powell attends an event honoring the 20th anniversary of the Persian Gulf War on Jan. 20, 2011, in College Station Texas. Powell oversaw U.S. forces during that war.





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Former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of staff and Secretary of State Colin Powell attends an event honoring the 20th anniversary of the Persian Gulf War on Jan. 20, 2011, in College Station Texas. Powell oversaw U.S. forces during that war.


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