Colin Powell, 84, most admired man in America and had outstanding success, yet feared his U.N. speech on weapons of mass destruction in Iraq, would be in the the NY Times obit’s first paragraph. He was wrong. It was in the first sentence.

A four-star general, national security adviser, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, secretary of state, and often hailed as the most admired man in America, yet all the Colin Powell success was tainted by his justification of the U.S. invasion of Iraq, highlighted by a speech before the United Nations.

And he feared it would be in the lead paragraph of his obit in the New York Times. Upon his death of Covid complications, last Oct. 8, friends to whom he shared the fear saw in the Times obit’s first line.