Kuwait pays homage to Colin Powell

Cairo: Kuwait has paid tribute to Colin Powell, a top US army general and diplomat seen as a Gulf war hero, who died Monday due to complications from COVID-19. He was 84.

Powell became the first African-American chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a post he held from 1989 till 1993. He was regarded as the architect of a US-led military victory on Iraqi forces in a 1991 war launched to expel Saddam Hussein’s invading troops from Kuwait. In 1993, Kuwait awarded him a prestigious medal in recognition of his role in the liberation war.

Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Nawaf Al Ahmad mourned Powell’s death in a cable of condolences he sent to US President Joe Biden, hailing his “honourable” stances towards Kuwait. Kuwait’s Crown Prince Meshal Al Ahmed sent a similar cable.

In 2001, Powell was named the US secretary of state under president George W. Bush’s administration. In 2003, Powell made Bush’s case at the UN Security Council, claiming that Saddam had secretly possessed weapons of mass destruction to justify the US-led invasion of Iraq. The intelligence cited by Powell turned out to be faulty and the purported weaponry was never found.