Remember, Bram and his van of sketchy guys tried to convince Miles to go with them instead of with Widmore's group. They said the knew things about his father - and yet, by going with Widmore and getting sent back in time, Miles got to meet his father in person. Did Jacob/Bram know that Miles would be sent back in time if he went with Widmore? If so, did they not want him to go for any particular reason?

hummm, miles is the one that ultimately convinces his father to get people off of the island. maybe they wanted to stop that from happening, but miles was off of the island, so it always happened that way... or, if miles had not gone with widmore and went with jacob's group, then he would have probably known that locke was not locke.

Also interesting is that they stressed that it has to be his choice, and not for some money incentive. Just like Jacob said to Ben, and like he said to Hurley. Jacob and his followers seem to be all about free will, and perhaps about proving that some humans will make the free will choice to do the right thing.

And they said they were the good guys, I guess that would mean that Widmore is bad, perhaps being influenced by the dark side. I am sure they didn't know how events would turn out themselves, but they wanted Miles on their side. He sorta ended up that way, not with Widmores mercenaries.
I had a thought after another post, maybe they wanted miles there because they thought jacob might get killed, and miles could tell them exactly what happened.
I doubt that john and ben are gonna come out and confess!