by Pat Elder | 08.16.2009

The Pentagon has called on Donna Miles, one of its chief propagandists, to address public opposition to the Army Experience Center (AEC) at a shopping mall in Philadelphia, a one-of-a-kind, $12 million, interactive video facility. The AEC has come under public scrutiny for luring vulnerable teens into military service using violent video games and combat simulators. In an August 10, 2009 article, Potential Recruits 'Experience' Army, Miles gives a resounding two thumbs up to the embattled Army Experience Center.

Miles is a writer for the American Services Press Service, the Pentagon's propaganda arm. Her articles are typically written to quell public dissent after damaging publicity like Abu Ghraib, Walter Reed, or the slaughter of civilians by U.S. forces. 

The Army Experience Center must be pretty high on the Pentagon's list of priorities to rate an article by the enigmatic Miles, who plays multiple roles as Pentagon cheerleader, anesthesiologist, and hypnotist. Articles written by Miles and disseminated by the Pentagon's prolific propaganda arm are picked up by hundreds of outlets across the country and read by millions.

Either Miles is incredibly prolific, with 229 articles attributed to her this year, or she's a pseudonym for several under the employ of the Pentagon. In either case, her writing is shameful. Articles with the Miles byline represent the antitheses of journalistic integrity. She's given a script and she produces for the Pentagon. A simple defense link search pulls up 2,820 articles by Donna Miles in the last several years, a superhuman compilation. The production is like a sausage factory and you don't want to know what's in those sausages.

In the three months before the February, 2007 Washington Post article on deplorable conditions at Walter Reed Army Hospital in Washington, Donna Miles had no articles that mentioned the facility, but in the three months after the scathing piece, Miles wrote eleven articles mentioning Walter Reed. One talked about how the medical evaluation process was getting a better look, another, how soldiers were receiving excellent care. Words like, "smooth,"  "streamlined," "accelerated," "care," and "emphasis on treatment" are common in her glowing reports on Walter Reed.

Likewise, the Army Experience Center is "inviting," "non-threatening." The center is all about experiencing "the love and companionship, the esprit de corps and teamwork that’s all part of being in the Army." Don't swallow the sausage.

In the aftermath of the Abu Ghraib scandal, Miles is credited with articles like, Medics at Abu Ghraib Helping to Win Iraqis' Hearts. She wrote of Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld during his resignation speech, "He recalled how stunned he felt when he learned of abuse at the Abu Ghraib detention facility in Iraq." 

Not one of the more than 2,000 articles attributed to Miles provides or responds to a counter viewpoint.

Consider the most egregious, contemptible propaganda spewed by "Donna Miles."

Her recent articles, like the dispatch from Kabul on May 6, 2009, Joint Investigation Aims to Get to Bottom of Afghanistan Incident, are written to cast doubt on U.S. involvement in civilian deaths in Afghanistan:

Of course, American and international news agencies have documented American abuses, including the use of white phosphorous by the U.S. Army in Afghanistan. But it doesn't matter to Donna Miles. Her next piece was entitled, Afghanistan War ‘Absolutely Winnable,’ Top Commander Says.

In the Pentagon's mind, the world is a battleground -- and that battleground now encompasses the "homeland." We're all potential enemies in this global war, whether the resistance is violent or nonviolent or whether it's being manifested 10 miles from the center of Kandahar or 10 miles from the center of Philadelphia.

Miles, or whoever is writing this garbage, is given a mission, a script, and a deadline. In the case of the Army Experience Center, Miles is being told to address the criticism that 13 year-olds are being taught to kill. We know that 13 year-olds in the Army Experience Center have been heard congratulating each other for "killing ragheads" and "wiping out hajis."  Instead, Miles writes, "Thirteen-year-old Sean Yaffee, for example, doesn’t see himself joining the military. But he’s becoming another regular at the center, where he can play the same computer games he has at home, but in the company of his buddies. Yaffee said he’s learned a lot about the Army at the center. “It just tells you about the Army experience, but it doesn’t pressure you,” he said. “I’m really just here to have a good time.” 

They're beneath contempt. The U.S. led global war is being fought right here.

Consider the outrageous line in Miles' article on the AEC, "The center is billed not as a recruiting station, but as an educational facility that offers an array of interactive computer game stations and simulators visitors can enjoy to their hearts’ content." This is vile propaganda. Be careful you don't choke on the sausage.

The Army Experience Center is a recruiting station. 140 new recruits have signed up since it opened last August and five area recruitment facilities have recently closed. This is the future of Army recruiting.

The Army is teaching 13 year-olds to kill and is planning to open Experience Centers in malls across the country. A protest on May 2, 2009 at Philadelphia's Army Experience Center was attended by 250 people and saw 7 arrests. Not one mainstream print media outlet ran the story. 

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