AmericaSupportsYou.mil Survives Investigation by the Pentagon

Because no Veterans or Support Our Troops group or organization should have official ties to the U.S. government or access to the public treasury or defense budget funds, more so it should not and cannot be a clearing house for other related troop support efforts due to America Support You.mil creation by and ties to both Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and outgoing (soon to be former) President George W. Bush, plus those who have left senior management positions at the Pentagon who had their dirty hands in the pie.

Questions about the legitimacy of America Supports You.mil arose shortly after its approval by former Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld as the brain child of another Bush appointee, Allison Barber, Rumsfeld’s Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Liaison.

Way back in July 2006, Martin Kaste of National Public Radio did an expose Pentagon’s Fine Line: War Machine, P.R. Machine, questioning the relationship between the Pentagon war machine and DOD’s public relations machine, America Support You.mil. He reported that the U.S. military didn’t do all its public relations work [of winning hearts and minds] overseas – that DOD was also investing tax payer dollars in grass-roots efforts to sell the war here at home.

That was over two years, 5 months ago when Kaste reported that the Pentagon’s "America Supports You" program employs Pentagon staff and private PR contractors to coordinate activities that support the armed forces. "Freedom Walk" marches, letter-writing campaigns, even supplements in kids’ Weekly Reader, were all paid for by the Pentagon itself out tax payer dollars of the skyrocketing defense budget. How come it took the forced resignation of Donald Rumsfeld, and two years for anyone to look at the impropriety of this? In fact, the Pentagon is still trying to cover this up by calling it an "administrative" audit instead of a "criminal" investigation or audit.

Kaste noted that one effort was a campaign to get people at major league baseball games to "text-message" their support to the troops on their cell phones… even though those messages aren’t actually sent to the troops. Regardless, plenty of people in the armed forces say they’re grateful for the volunteer effort, but had they known it was from tax payer dollars to ensure support -WO.

Kaste questioned what I knew to be fact when Rumsfeld created his propaganda apparatus, there were some at the Pentagon who felt the effort was wrong because it verged on tax-payer-funded propaganda, when in fact the nation was strongly divided over the Iraq War by 2006 and many no longer humbly swallowed the propaganda or never bought it in the first place. The fear back in 2006 was that such a partisan appeal to support the troops could also be seen as a call to support President Bush and his war in Iraq.

When one is forced to pay for the concept of Supporting Bush, Supporting Bush’s War, and Supporting Our Troops cannot be separated, by definition that is a propaganda effort to continue selling War despite the American electorate’s opposition to it.

Kaste also reported way back in 2006 that during the first year America Supports You.mil was in operation much of the publicity work has been farmed out to a private firm, Susan Davis International. The firm signed Pentagon contracts for at least $2.7 million.

What really made Kaste question the sincerity of America Supports You.mil was the length to which Rumsfeld’s organization took to avoid reporters’ questions with either a “No Comment,” or we don’t respond to “political questions” or "Submit a Written Request," at America Supports Bush.mil. By definition America Supports You.mil is a political rallying organization hiding behind our troops using the slogan "support" as a smoke screen. Just the fact that they bar Veterans and Military Family troop support groups with Peace or Against War in their logo means America Supports You.mil is not only Unconstitutional, but should not get any tax payer dollars from taxpayers who belong to Veterans for Peace, Iraq Veterans Against the War, or Military Families Speak Out. See, now we do have both a constitutional question and legal issue. Major Hanafin

Kaste left the journalistic community with a key to breaking the code of silence at the Pentagon. That is if the media seriously wants to investigate fraud, waste, and abuse at DOD. When you’re a reporter, it’s always hard to know how to react when someone doesn’t want to talk to you. It’s actually something of an ethical dilemma.

Take this story, about the Pentagon public relations program known as "America Supports You." It’s a feel-good campaign, the kind of thing a government agency is usually falling all over itself to talk to reporters about. "Will I go on the record about our program to get people to support the troops? Will I?!"