VANCOUVER - Nearly four years after resigning from the White House, Gen. Colin Powell still defends the decisions he made while serving as U.S. secretary of state under President George W. Bush.
Powell was in Vancouver on Thursday to talk about leadership to about 800 paying people.
Before his talk, Powell spoke to the media about his controversial UN speech in February 2003 that made the case for the Iraq war. In it he presented U.S. intelligence - much of which was later discredited - saying Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction.
"It was a speech that had to be given to make our case to the world. Much of the information in the speech turned out to be wrong," he said.
"At the time I gave the speech, it was vetted by the CIA . . . and the intelligence community. No words were put in that speech that I made up or came from any other place in government."
The 71-year-old also defended his country's role alongside Canada in the war in Afghanistan, calling the toppling of the Taliban "an act of self defence."
"The United States along with . . . Canada has been there for these years trying to help the Afghan government put in place a stable democracy where the people are represented in their government," he said.
He added that Canadian forces play a vital role in that process.
Powell spoke for 50 minutes on topics ranging from the importance of leadership to his experiences in the White House. He joked that the thing he missed most about being in office was having his own airplane, which would take off the minute the flight attendant had served him his Diet Coke.
"It was cool," he said to the crowd.
Though much of his speech was light-hearted, Powell acknowledged his country is facing image problems.
He said the first thing he would do to help change that would to be to close the Guantanamo Bay detention camp.
When asked who he supports in the upcoming U.S. presidential campaign, he said he hasn't decided, but called both the Republican and Democratic contenders dedicated and qualified.
Powell said he'll listen carefully to what both Barack Obama and John McCain have to say, and in the end will vote for whoever brings the best set of tools to 21st-century America.
A small crowd of demonstrates gathered outside the auditorium to protest Powell's speech.
Elena Marie Lau acknowledged that Powell was no longer in a position of power but still feels he has a great influence in America. She said he's not welcome in Canada.
