The Man Who Would Be King

Can you imagine how pissed off Colin Powell must be with President Bush, Rumsfeld and V.P Cheney?

Powell was a distinguished and brave soldier, who while serving in Vietnam was decorated for "single-handedly rescuing several men from a burning helicopter" (as per Wikipedia). He was also acclaimed as a worthy tactician and served as National Security Adviser under Reagan and went on to lead the U.S. Armed Forces. He attained a reverential status in the U.S. and was considered by most as the man most likely to become American's first black President.

But then he joined Bush Jr's administration (unanimously approved by the Senate btw) and boy did things go downhill from there.

Such has been the damage to his reputation, and I'm guessing so jarring has been his experience, that in an election between a black man and a soldier, this black soldier has gone AWOL.

Well, not completely AWOL, he can be found on a stage in London, singing and dancing away to hip hop beats. The BBC reports:

Ex-US Secretary of State Colin Powell has joined a hip hop band on stage in London to dance and sing in a celebration of African culture.

America's former top diplomat took centre stage along with Nigerian group Olu Maintain at the Africa Rising Festival in the Royal Albert Hall.

US pop singer Christina Aguilera and UK-born soul singer Seal also performed at the event which saw fashion collections by Ozwald Boateng and Deola Sagoe.

(Courtesy: Getty Images via BBC)

Update

I've come across some more images of Colin Powell 'in action,' and I have to say, he really seems to be enjoying himself. So maybe, after the change in his political fortunes he feels liberated and is actually doing what he actually likes. Here's another image of Mr. Powell from the same show.

(Courtesy: Brain Rasic/Rex Features via The Guardian)

This one's from 2004. Mr Powell, at the time Secretary of State, is singing YMCA in South Korea during an ASEAN summit.


A year before that, at the same summit, he was rolling around with his Japanese counterpart singing a love song.

(Courtesy: AP via BBC)

The last one's from April this year. Every rapper deserves to have dinner with a lady as fine as Ms. Jenny McCarthy. Lucky Bastard!

(Courtesy: Mandel Ngan /AFP /Getty Images via The Swamp)