Talk:Colin Powell

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-link to the DoS site for the remarks with the foreign minister is broken, please fix.

Errors on page?

Did General Powell serve in South Korea in the late 1970s? If not, then there are errors in the article. For example, the article states: "As a young Colonel serving in South Korea, for example, Powell was very close to General Henry "Gunfighter" Emerson." But under Dates of rank, it states he did not make colonel until 1976. The DMV would be a possible place to serve following the Vietnam conflict, but the article should be more clear on this point. Another issue is the matter of highest ranking. Since my ancestors are only most remotely from Africa, I will not claim whether the General is or is not an African American. I wonder about the office that garnered him this claim. Doesn't the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff outrank the Secretary of State? Perhaps it should say "civilian government official" or "civil government official". -Acjelen 04:53, 5 December 2005 (UTC)

Powell served as a battalion commander in South Korea for a year, from 1973 to 1974, at which stage his rank was Lieutenant Colonel (a rank for which the correct term of address is still "Colonel"). Still, I'll modify the line to make it a bit clearer for most readers. As for the highest ranking issue, senior civilian government officials always outrank military officers, including the JCS. That's part of the principle of civilian oversight of the military. — Impi 11:16, 5 December 2005 (UTC)

an african american from jamaica?? is this a joke?

battalion commander equals rank of captain or major.. in Vietnam you said he was a major. a Lieutenant Colonel outranks a Major.. how is this possible? in Korea was a LtColonel and in vietnam .. 10 years later was a Major???

In case this is not clear to anyone else, he served as a LTC under occupation in the country of Korea after the Vietnam war. He was not involved in the korean conflict. Leppy 04:32, 20 April 2006 (UTC)

I have a problem with this sentance:

He appeared on the networks that were broadcasting New Year's Eve specials and talked about this honor, as well as being a native of New York City, ABC, CNN, [8] and Fox News Channel.

Does this mean that he is also a native of ABC,CNN and the Fox News Channel? Because those are networks, not locations.RiseRobotRise 18:34, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

He served as a LTC in Korea from 1973-1974 20 years after the Korean War ended. We still have troops in Korea. The Korean War ended in 1953. Powell did not become an officer till 1958. In the late '60s & early '70ws there was limited fighting taking place in Korea. I believe around 70 US Army troops where killed during that period. It was not full scale war. It was mostly ambushes and sparadoic attacks.

WMD & Security Council

I can't believe how good this article is, given the number of contributors. On the WMD thing at the security council, I recall a documentary in which Powell himself stated that, in order to fix responsibility for the intelligence he was about to rely upon in his presentation, he made sure that George Tenet was seated directly behind him. Assuming the recollection is accurate, then it does demonstrate quite a devious and compromised way of thinking, perhaps confirming the qualities shown by him in the My Lai and Jenin episodes.--shtove 20:20, 7 January 2006 (UTC)

It would be nice if we could use this pic: http://www.abc.net.au/news/galleries/2003/powell/images/pic14.jpg (I'm not sure about the licence) but it's a precious moment of history. AdrianTM 22:11, 25 May 2006 (UTC)

Powell's contribution to drop in USA's popularity

At the time I write this, the following sentences are in the Powell article:-

Powell's great asset was his tremendous popularity among the American people. However, over the course of his tenure he traveled less than any other U.S. Secretary of State in 30 years, which may have contributed to the declining image of the United States abroad.

I raise a couple of points. Firstly, there needs to be substantial evidence that it was Powell's decision to travel less that caused this, given so many other very significant events, namely September 11 and the Iraq war.

Also, are we talking of popularity with the world's citizens (the sentence before talks about popularity with the American people) or popularity with other world leaders? I can understand an unwillingness to travel may be a setback diplomatically, but, until further evidence is produced, I am willing to believe that many people not in the US, much prefer Colin Powell's dovish doctrine to that of President Bush.

I am not saying that Powell has not contributed to America's loss of popularity, but I think there needs to be some evidence presented if the article is to say this.

(For the record, I live in the UK)

--Philipdw 21:41, 17 January 2006 (UTC)

Powell and Plame

His possible role is summed up nicely in this msnbc piece:

{...} on a long Bush trip to Africa, Fleischer and Bartlett prompted clusters of reporters to look into the bureaucratic origins of the Wilson trip. How did the spin doctors know to cast that lure? One possible explanation: some aides may have read the State Department intel memo, which Powell had brought with him aboard Air Force One. [1]

Future Government Career?

Anyone know if he plans on running for President, or Vice President in '08?

When asked in a Daily Telegraph interview in February 2005 if he had ambitions for further public office, he said:

"Ambitions, no. Plans, no. But who knows what the future holds? Run for office? Absolutely not."

Grant 12:47, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

Military decorations

I just updated and corrected the military decorations based on the page's jpg photo; however, I now have some questions. (1) What is the source of this photograph as being General Powell's? (2) Why is this different than upper-body biography photo, which has less awards? (3) I added reference to the Good Conduct Medal with silver (4) loop (aka, 9 awards) - HOWEVER, why is an officer receiving the Good Conduct Medal; all I read is that it is an enlisted award. :djharrity 17:44, 19 May 2006 (UTC)

Officers can be awarded the Good Conduct Medal if the have at least three years of active military service as an enlisted man. Since Colin Powell was never an enlisted man he would not have the medal.

Coat of Arms

It is stated that the Lord Lyon's Heraldic authority was asked to devise his heraldic acheivement because of his Scottish Ancestry. Whilst his ancestry may be in part Scottish (Powell is in fact a Welsh surname), this would have no bearing on the Lord Lyon's involvement. It is customary for the arms of Commonwealth subjects to be granted through the Scottish Heraldic Authority - this would hav been the case even if Powell's father lived in England now, and would be the case for any Commonwealth subjects - except Canadians who now have their own College of Arms. I have amended the text int he article accordingly.

Can someone produce an image of what his coat of arms would look like? I can see some of it from the text, but the traditional descriptions always confuse me...just out of curiosity. Super Jedi Droid 21:13, 3 August 2006 (UTC)

Personal background

As far as I can tell, this section was removed without explanation on [[3 whose talk page consists of two vandal warnings. So I've put it back – hopefully, tailored to fit in with intervening edits.Grant 23:59, 11 May 2006 (UTC)

I DONT KNOW WHY PEOPLE WANT TO LABLE PEOPLE BLACK JUST BECUSE ONES OF THERE PARENTS WHERE BLACK OR HAVE BLACK IN THERE PAST BACKGROWN IN THERE FAMILY. THIS DOES NOT MAKE ONE BLACK,IT MAKE THEM MULTIRACIAL/MIXEDRACE.

Yellowcake forgery

The article currently says regarding Powell's UN presentation:

Some of the claims were taken out, but others were left in, such as claims based on the yellowcake forgery.

Which is footnoted to http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/0715-05.htm

The yellowcake example doesn't show up in that article and Yellowcake forgery#Butler Report says that Conclusion 499 of the Butler Report says that the British Government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa" was well-founded so its misleading to call it the yellowcake forgery, when Colin's point was supported and not believed to have been from a forged document.

Let's take it out.

on the yellowcake discussion page, User:RonCram says:

"Colin Powell’s speech does not mention the yellowcake documents. I have searched the entire transcript of his speech before the UN for the words “Niger” and “yellowcake” and neither appear. In addition, the US Report on PreWar Intelligence (page 68) also says Powell did not use the claim in his speech."

69.220.35.202 04:44, 18 June 2006 (UTC)Rabbi-m

U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell referred to the documents directly in his presentation to the U.N. Security Council outlining the Bush administration's case against Iraq. [2] Añoranza 05:25, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

There is a source, reverting in spite of this is vandalism. Añoranza 06:03, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

I believe more discussion is needed. If indeed User:RonCram is correct then I see no reason to reinstate it, you're pushing your POV again. ← ΣcoPhreek _contribs^talk→ 08:40, 18 June 2006 (UTC)

two copies of a full transcript of Powell's remarks: a copy on CNN's own website The US Govt website

Neither contain a reference to Niger or yellowcake. The only references to uranium are about enriching it, not acquiring it.

Thus, it seems the CNN story referenced above is wrong.

Rabbi-m

Ancestry

Burke's Peerage, which remains unimpeachable, did not speak of Powell's ancestry; that was the considerably more dodgy Harold Brooks-Baker, who was not a professional genealogist and generally did not reveal his research, while trading on the Burke's name. The claim is most likely bogus. See also Most royal candidate theory. --Dhartung | Talk 09:48, 15 July 2006 (UTC)

Misnomer

I think that Colin Powell being categorized as an "african american" is kind of a misnomer because he is jamaican, not african. See, that is whats wrong with the label "african american". It is very presumptuous, since black people don't just come from Africa. Maybe you should reconsider your categorizations more carefully. 19:50, 5 August 2006 —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 69.46.216.255 (talk • contribs) .

In reply to the above: However, the black people of Jamaica DID come from Africa.

So? He's like...African-English-Jamaican-American then! The whole racial thing shouldn't be an issue in my judgement. I think years from now, humans will look back and be ashamed that race was even noticed. --Raogden 23:49, 8 September 2006 (UTC)

non-Caucasian ?

I am not sure he is the highest ranking "non-caucasian" in U.S. History, what about Charles Curtis?

66.72.215.225 21:56, 11 September 2006 (UTC)jme

why are there no sources anywhere in this article?

i want to reference individual parts that are innaccurate, but the whole dang thing has no references, no sources, nothing!

who wants to do the deleting?