His life and public career gives some insight to the forces that can tug at people, and how a person reacts can reveal their personal priorities. It appears that Powell was willing to change his core beliefs when he become a well-known public figure.
Clinton said something very intelligent at Nixon’s funeral -that you have to judge someone by the entire life they led, not just the parts where they went astray. Colin Powell was an advisor with the ARVN in Vietnam in 1962, did several other tours there, was shot down in a helicopter. He also served as Reagan’s National Security Advisor for three years, and was CJCS. Had he retired from politics in 2000, I would have said he had an almost unvarnished record. But he didn’t and I have real problems with his advocacy of the Second Iraq War (which he initially opposed) and his turning on the Republican Party as strongly as did a weasel like William Kristol. So the first 3/4 of his career - good; the last 1/4 - awful.