Colin Powell: A trailblazing legacy, blotted by Iraq war

By MATTHEW LEE
AP Diplomatic Writer

WASHINGTON (AP) — A child of working-class Jamaican immigrants in the Bronx, Colin Powell rose from neighborhood store clerk to warehouse floor-mopper to the highest echelons of the U.S. government. It was a trailblazing American dream journey that won Powell international acclaim and trust. It was that credibility Powell put on the line in 2003 when, appearing before the United Nations as secretary of state, he made the case for war against Iraq. When it turned out that the intelligence Powell cited was faulty and the Iraq War became a bloody, chaotic nightmare, his stellar reputation was damaged. Still, it wasn’t destroyed.