Why did Miller Have Security Clearance in Iraq?

Now there's a good question! While other journalists trying to tell the truth about what's going on in Iraq have been (and are still being) harassed and murdered in Iraq, Ms. Miller was given the red-carpet treatment while an "embedded" reporter. By her own admission, she was given access to "secret information." Now here's my question: Was she being shown "secret information" or being fed, by prearrangement, the propaganda lines the White House wanted her to disseminate, as well as getting tips on how to spin off "unpleasant facts." I think we all know the answer to that one.

Plame has proven she is not only a treasonous weasle with no regard for America's welfare, much less soldiers on the ground in Iraq, she is a miserable coward. Who but a coward would use "Gee, I don't remember who I talked to" as a defense? I don't think Ms. Plame should be fired from the NY Times - I think she should be reassigned to the janitorial staff and clean toilets for the rest of her career. Afterall, she's raised flushing away the truth to a fine art.

WHY DID MILLER HAVE SECURITY CLEARANCE?

By Ivo Daalder From: America Abroad

Having now waded through The Times's articles on Judy Miller, one new fact struck me as particularly bizarre -- Miller, by her own admission, was cleared to see secret information as part of her assignment as an "embedded" reporter in Iraq.
I had no idea journalists could receive security clearances -- and I had no idea that the mainstream media would allow their reporters to have such clearances. After all, one of the most important obligations of a person receiving security clearances is not to reveal that information at any time, while one of the most important obligations of a reporter is precisely to reveal information the public has a need and right to know.

Can someone explain why this glaring conflict of interest is acceptable? And does anyone know whether Miller's clearance was an exception or whether this is a common practice in journalistic circles, be it today or in the past? And, finally, as I note below the fold, could it be that this fact becomes the key to Libby's defense?