Colin Powell Desert Storm

Remembers Interview by Contributing Editor Tom Philpott

RETIRED ARMY GEN. COLIN POWELL, 78, WAS CHAIRMAN OF THE JOINT CHIEFS OF STAFF in early August 1990 when Iraqi dic- tator Saddam Hussein ordered his army to in- vade Kuwait. Within days, then-President George H.W. Bush vowed that Saddam’s aggres- sion “will not stand.”  The president and then- Defense Secretary Dick Cheney tasked Powell and the then-commander of U.S. Central Com- mand, Army Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf Jr., to launch Operation Desert Shield to protect Saudi Arabia and begin to build a powerful mili- tary coalition. Six months later, that coalition, which included forces from Britain, France, Italy, Egypt, Syria, and other states, liberated

Army Gen. Colin Powell, then-chairman of the Joint Chiefs, calls on a reporter at a Pentagon press briefing during the First Gulf War.

PHOTOS/IMAGES: TKTK PHOTO: DOD

Transfer of security ceremony with government officials, tribal leaders and local community elders. ANSF will take responsibility for area’s security, Dec. 1, 2011..

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