National Counterterrorism Director Resigns In Protest Of Trump’s Iran War | EUROtoday

National Counterterrorism Center Director Joe Kent resigned abruptly on Tuesday in protest of President Donald Trump’s warfare in Iran, now in its third week, lobbing unproven accusations that Israel has repeatedly lured the United States into conflicts.

“I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,” Kent mentioned in his resignation letter to Trump.

The former Green Beret criticized Israel in harsh and at occasions feverish phrases, bizarrely accusing the nation of additionally being chargeable for U.S. involvement within the 2003 Iraq War and of “manufacturing” the Syrian Civil War. Notably, Kent didn’t point out Trump’s personal actions that made warfare extra doubtless, from ordering a weeks-long navy buildup to repeatedly undercutting U.S. diplomacy with Iran.

Kent, a political appointee who was confirmed with a 52-44 vote final summer season, was discovered to have connections to right-wing extremists throughout a previous congressional run. He as soon as reportedly referred to as Adolf Hitler a “complicated historical figure” who “many people misunderstand.”

As NCC director, he served beneath Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, a longtime critic of abroad navy entanglements who has provided scant commentary on Trump’s choice to begin one other warfare within the Middle East. Apparently in response to Kent’s departure, Gabbard posted an announcement on the bounds of her function in shaping the president’s selections.

Trump has struggled to clarify why he agreed to assault Iran when he did, alluding to imprecise threats the nation posed to U.S. pursuits, as Americans begin seeing greater prices at house. Thirteen U.S. service members have been killed and round 200 injured within the battle thus far.

Kent mentioned in his letter that he supported “the values and foreign policies” that Trump campaigned on in his previous three presidential campaigns. Trump went as far as to dub himself the “President of Peace” within the final election cycle.

Kent believes, nevertheless, that “high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined” Trump’s platform and “sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran.”

He went on, delving deeper into the supposed conspiracy: “This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States, and that should you strike now, there was a clear path to a swift victory. This was a lie and is the same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war that cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women.”

“You can reverse course and chart a new path for our nation, or you can allow us to slip further toward decline and chaos,” Kent informed Trump. “You hold the cards.”

Trump has repeatedly fueled tensions with Iran regardless of efforts by others, together with a few of his personal advisers, to stop escalations.

In his first presidency, he unilaterally withdrew the U.S. from a global settlement to restrict Iran’s nuclear program, negotiated beneath President Barack Obama, and ordered the assassination of prime Iranian commander Qasem Soleimani — a transfer that Kent praised in his letter.

Both selections soured Tehran’s view of Washington on the whole, and Trump specifically, hamstringing Trump’s effort in his present presidency to barter with Iran for a brand new nuclear deal. Trump’s march to warfare was closely influenced by his option to entrust that diplomacy to non-experts — particularly two fellow actual property businessmen, his particular envoy Steve Witkoff and his son-in-law Jared Kusher — and by the sense he has created throughout the administration that dissenting opinions are undesirable or grounds for retaliation.

Kent, a veteran with 11 fight deployments beneath his belt, misplaced his spouse, Shannon, in 2019 when she was hit by a suicide bomber in Syria whereas working in Navy intelligence. He was left to boost the couple’s two youngsters.

He referenced each of those info in his letter, saying that he “cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the cost of American lives.”

The Trump administration and its allies pushed again onerous towards his accusations — notably the concept Iran posed no imminent risk.

“I always thought he was a nice guy, but I always thought he was weak on security, very weak on security,” the president informed reporters throughout an Oval Office assembly with Irish Taoiseach Micheal Martin.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned in an announcement on X that “the absurd allegation that President Trump made this decision based on the influence of others, even foreign countries, is both insulting and laughable.”

“President Trump has been remarkably consistent and has said for DECADES that Iran can NEVER possess a nuclear weapon,” she added, though specialists have mentioned Iran was not near acquiring such a weapon. Last June, Trump ordered an enormous bombing operation to wreck Iranian nuclear services.

Taylor Budowich, a former deputy chief of employees within the Trump White House, smeared Kent as a “crazed egomaniac who was often at the center of national security leaks, while rarely (never?) producing any actual work.”

“This isn’t some principled resignation — he just wanted to make a splash before getting canned. What a loser,” Budowich mentioned on X.

“I don’t know where Joe Kent is getting his information,” House Speaker Mike Johnson informed reporters on Capitol Hill. Johnson added mentioned that he attended nationwide safety conferences with different Gang of Eight lawmakers — prime Republicans and Democrats in each chambers of Congress — and that the group was proven proof of an imminent risk.

But Sen. Mark Warner (D-Va.), who was additionally within the conferences, has mentioned that was not the case.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) additionally agreed with Kent’s core level, writing on X, “Kent and I don’t agree on much, but he is right” on the risk degree posed by Iran.

Elsewhere, the response to Kent was blended. Some cautioned towards placing an excessive amount of inventory in something Kent mentioned as a result of his controversial previous and the best way during which his letter blames Israel.

Amy Spitalnick, director of the progressive Jewish Council for Public Affairs, referred to as Kent “an extremist with deep ties to Nazi sympathizers and Holocaust deniers who never should have been in this role in the first place (sadly one of many in this administration).”

“You can vehemently criticize the Israeli government & oppose the war without engaging in dangerous conspiratorial tropes. Amplifying it further normalizes it,” she said.

Akbar Shahid Ahmed contributed reporting.