I doubted your comment, then I looked it up, sure enough, according to Wikipedia Powell's handling of the assignment was later characterized by some observers as "whitewashing" the atrocities of My Lai.
Whether or not that was why he was promoted, I don't know. It may have had a part in it. From reading more, it seems like he's a Macnamara type who thinks some evil is done in the name of good.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/My_Lai_massacre
Whether or not that was why he was promoted, I don't know. It may have had a part in it. From reading more, it seems like he's a Macnamara type who thinks some evil is done in the name of good.