David Bloom, a highly regarded NBC correspondent, died in Iraq in April 2003, while embedded with our troops. Williams was named to head NBC Nightly news some 18 months later.
There are many who thought that Bloom, before his death, was the rising star at NBC and that he would get the key spot. Williams obviously has issues of inadequacy, and felt he had to embellish his record, in order to compete, in his own mind, with Bloom.