generations of change and to mulch and war and it is a country, still a relatively young country as you look at across the world. right kt? as it comes to what it is today and what it can be, a great nation, there are keepers of the sword who lived in the hills key times. colin powell was certainly one of them. before during the iraq war, somebody was questioning him and saying you are just doing this because you want conquests and you want to take over the middle east. he said wait a minute, the only land any american president or any american has asked for is just enough to bury our dead. when are people, at great sacrifice themselves went abroad to defend your freedom. that says it all. harris: so true. bill, i know that the history
in vietnam, then want to rise to joint chiefs, national security advisor, secretary of state. it is just an extraordinary life of service. as we look at that, i am a sucker for military funerals. i ve been to a few at west point. you look at this, and just the beauty of it. because, we are honoring the lives of service and purpose. a lot of people denigrate the military, but at the essence of it, and i think of colin powell s life, is this principle that the strong protect the weak. that is why people enlist. to protect the country and to use their strength to protect, not to lord it over as the many other nations. you watch this, and it is just a wonderful thing for america to watch. funerals like this are very important in bringing people together. reminding us of higher things that are often lost in the day-to-day politics. harris: you know, as a
summit as secretary of state in 2021 in hanoi and sang a version of it there. this is just a very important figure in the transition of our military, from a demoralized post-vietnam military to a revived military after that. he played an enormous role in that. you can see, this is an expression of love for colin powell. he brings together a lot of americans who honor this life of service. genuine service to the country. service above self. harris: amen to that. you talk about, i thought that was just so interesting what you said bill, in terms of reaching things together and our military war history. colin powell was awarded a purple heart, bronze star during the vietnam war. the nation was quite different. in fact, even different than what k.t. mcfarland was first describing. we ve gone through several
public roads for 3 miles. smiling at astonished drivers along the way. he liked tinkering. when he was a one star general living in fort carson colorado, he inexplicably became fascinated with mechanical adding machines. he would buy them by the pallet at auction and then try to get the machines to work at one point, there were so many adding machines, that he had to store them in the garage refrigerator. i suppose every general needs a senior eccentricity. george patton had pearl had revolvers, colin powell had adding machines. his zest for life derived from his endless passion for people. he was generally interested in everyone he met. he loved the hot dog vendor, the bank teller, janitor. and a student, as much as any
that you have, having worked in the white house. i have always been curious when you are speechwriter, there are always those people who are helpful or inspiring, or maybe even make it into the speech. what is your history with colin powell, with regard to that. i know your paths cross for just a short period of time, but they did cross. bill: it was unfortunately very short. my paths cross with them twice. once when i was working for national review in washington. ident with him as a lot of other reporters. and then i joined the bush administration, but it was in the second term, just as he was leaving. i did not have it. i wish i did, because as a presidential speechwriter, you have a lot of interactions with the secretaries giving their thoughts on things. so unfortunately, i did not have that experience with him directly, working with him as part of the bush white house.