News Colin Powell lent his prestige to make a case for the Iraq war: ‘I will always regret it,’ he later said October 18, 2021 Tom Vanden Brook, USA TODAY Comments Off on Colin Powell lent his prestige to make a case for the Iraq war: ‘I will always regret it,’ he later said Colin Powell, the first Black secretary of State, regretted making the case there were weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in Iraq in a 2003 UN speech.