professionally in our time together but you also had a personal connection to the general. >> i can understand the colonel's feelings there. general powell and my father were close for many years, decades. they both were a part of howard university, sat on the board and many social occasions where we had a chance to spend time with him and his wife. they were very private, but i learned this morning as well, you know, he had a very small inner circle. it was about six weeks ago that he shared with members of his inner circle that he was not doing well and that he was having health challenges and that he was concerned that he was to the going to be able to communicate effectively in the weeks to come, so many people who were close to him did not hear from him recently, but you know that he -- he kind of lit up the room when he was there and any occasion, even the briefing room, when he was with president bush, how he would