Page 6 - Colonel Jack News Today

Dignitaries from the country here today to pay respects and to honor the life and legacy of secretary powell. we have seen beautiful images, his wife alma taking her seat. his children michael, linda, ann marie. i want to bring back in peter and helene as the choir begins to sing here and the relationship as you talked about, colonel jack, between colin powell and his wife so special, that relationship between his children was special, as well. i want to think about that here as we listen to the...

Think his impact as chairman of the joint chiefs of staff through president george h.w. bush is larger than any of them. >> what were look at son screen here i think is an example of what you and colonel jack have talked about here. we are seeing these former presidents, former president obama, former first lady michelle obama, former president bush, former first lady laura bush. former president bill clinton did not travel today, we understand because of his prior hospitalization. medical advic...

I think his passing in some ways therefore is remarkable not just because of the story of a man whose journey so extraordinary but also i think that in passing an era in which its possible for somebody like colin powell to be a figure of unity, across lines in a country where right now we are just divided straight down the middle. >> colonel jack, talk about why general powell decided not to run for president. >> the theory is his wife said youre not doing it. you will be a target and so i get -...

He wasnt an average cabinet secretary. everybody knew who he was and wanted to talk to him and share a hand shake with him or a smile. he had a way about him that attracted people. now, one thing to take slight amendment to what colonel jack said, he was not a politician of baby hugging, pollster driven kind of politician. absolutely correct. but he was in some ways the best politician in washington because he didnt work the city in a way that few others did. he understood how to make things hap...

Reflected by the people in the audience here at the national cathedral today. we saw susan rice, jake sullivan as we see i believe members of the secretarys family preparing to take their seats. colonel jack, i wonder if you could talk about the incredible relationship secretary powell had with his wife, wife alma. married in 1962. tease are the grandchildren. his son michael will deliver a tribute. his daughter doing a read. give us insight into the roin that the kids and grand kids had with th...

And with pointed correction that would stay with you for the rest of your life. thats what he was all about, he was serious about being serious. and he was an awfully nice guy on top of it. >> and colonel jack, i wonder too if you can speak to peters lovely anecdote, even in his final days, final weeks, secretary powell was focused on the woman who had been his partner for five plus decades, focused on alma and her health and how she was doing. thats where his concern and his focus was. >> well,...

>> no, i was going to say, we were talking earlier about his disinclination to use the military instrument of power, and its interesting to note that one of the things that drove that was his experience in vietnam. dont forget, he went to vietnam very early in the war. he got there fully ten years before we finally withdrew all combat forces. and a dozen years before the north vietnamese took over. he was an adviser there. and he knew exactly how the military instrument of power could be used an...

I think colonel jack just really hit on sort of the essence of colin powell in many ways when he talked about young people who are now not so young who look at him as a mentor. i think young people who are still very young particularly in the military look at him as a mentor because of the trails he blazed. i think its sort of sad that the first line in colin powells obituary was about his testimony to the u.n. on weapons of mass destruction, because that sort of is the one blight in his otherwi...

Have to ashoe doing the one thing in favor of another if theyre both important. you have to be good at being who you are. and if you do that youre going to wind up being a good soldier and a good father at the same time. >> colonel jack, thank you for that. it is an important point here. we want to pause for a moment here as the secretarys hearse is removed or casket i should say is removed from the hearse. a somber moment at the national cathedral. there are people lining the area here. lets li...

Here that in fact the taliban have taken that area. we dont have full confirmation of that, geoff. >> and colonel jack, the european officials said they are willing to cooperate with the new taliban government as long as they meet certain conditions, they dont export terrorism, and the taliban respects human right of law, and have you seen any signs whatsoever that they will comply with those things? >> no, and they may not do it, and they may not do it because they may not be able to. we tend t...