Oops, I guess this system doesn't accept HTML linking in the comments. The article I reference is here: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A...

This doesn't quite answer your "with vs. in" question, but there's an interesting <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A... in today's Washington Post about the language of war. An excerpt: "Journalists are now 'embedded' with the troops, which suggests an almost sexual level of media-military involvement. Although the media operate under many of the same restrictions as before, 'embedding' conveys closeness and cooperation. In any event, it's really no different from the olden days, when reporters were merely 'assigned' to travel with troops."