He became the highest ranking African-American in the executive branch and was the highest ranking African-American in the military in the history of the United States.
He was opposed to the majority of George H.W. Bush Administration officials who advocated the deployment of troops to the
Middle East to force
Iraqi leader
Saddam Hussein to withdraw his armies from neighboring
Kuwait, believing the dictator could instead be contained through
sanctions and a buildup of forces around Kuwait.
Reports have indicated that Powell himself was skeptical of the evidence presented to him. Powell later recounted how Vice President Cheney had joked with him before he gave the speech, telling him, "You've got high poll ratings; you can afford to lose a few points." Larry Wilkerson later characterized Cheney's view of Powell's mission as to "go up there and sell it, and we'll have moved forward a peg or two. Fall on your damn sword and kill yourself, and I'll be happy, too."
[
A moderate
Republican, Powell is well known for his willingness to support
liberal or
centrist causes. He is
pro-choice regarding
abortion,
[15] in support of
affirmative action, and in favor of "reasonable"
gun control.
Powell was the subject of controversy in 2004 when, in a conversation with British
Foreign Secretary,
Jack Straw, he reportedly referred to
neocons within the Bush administration as "******* crazies."
[16] In addition to being reported in the press (though generally, the expletive was censored in the US press), the quote was used by
James Naughtie in his book, "The Accidental American: Tony Blair and the Presidency", and by
Chris Patten in his book, "Cousins and Strangers: America, Britain, and Europe in a new century".
