Republican former Secretary of State Colin Powell died Monday as a result of complications from COVID-19, his family said.

The 84-year-old former military leader, whose 2003 United Nations speech paved the way for the Iraq war, was fully vaccinated against the virus.

“General Colin L. Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, passed away this morning due to complications from Covid 19. He was fully vaccinated,” his family said in a statement on Facebook.

https://nypost.com/2021/10/18/colin-powell-former-general-and-secretary-of-state-dead-at-84/

“We want to thank the medical staff at Walter Reed National Medical Center for their caring treatment. We have lost a remarkable and loving husband, father, grandfather and a great American.”

It wasn’t immediately what complications he suffered or how long Powell had been in the hospital prior to his death.

He is survived by his wife of nearly 60 years, Alma Powell, and their three children.

In his four decades of public life, Powell was the first black man to serve as national security adviser near the end of Ronald Reagan’s presidency and chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff from 1989 to 1993.

Powell was also the first black secretary of state under President George W. Bush’s administration from 2001 to 2005.

His reputation suffered a painful setback in 2003 when he delivered a speech to the United Nations Security Council to make the case that the US should go to war against Iraq.

He cited false information that there was evidence Iraq and Saddam Hussein were hiding weapons of mass destruction.

Powell resigned in 2005 and later referred to his UN speech as a “blot” that would forever tarnish his record.

President Bush was among those to lead the tributes for Powell, saying he was “highly respected at home and abroad.”

Credit: New York Post