FOUR COLIN POWELL MYTHS: Much has been written and said over the past day as we learned of the death of former Joint Chiefs Chairman and Secretary of State retired Gen. Colin Powell at age 84 from complications of COVID-19. Powell’s place in history is firmly cemented as one of America’s finest military leaders, and accolades have been pouring in from all quarters.

But as someone who covered Powell from my first days as a Pentagon reporter in 1992, I couldn’t help noticing that there are a number of media-driven myths surrounding his legacy, “facts” that are assumed to be true because they are repeated so often.