The director of the US’ federal counter-terrorism agency has resigned from his position, citing his inability to support the Iran War “in good conscience”.
Joe Kent, the now-ex director of the National Counterterrorism Center, announced his departure on social media “after much reflection”.
"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,” he wrote.
In his resignation letter to President Trump, he claimed that “high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran”.
"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. We cannot make this mistake again,” he went on.
"I pray that you will reflect upon what we are doing in Iran, and who we are doing it for. The time for bold action is now. You can reverse course and chart a new path for our nation, or you can allow us to slip further toward decline and chaos. You hold the cards.”
Kent’s resignation comes after Secretary of State Marco Rubio appeared to suggest earlier this month that the US was forced to launch strikes on Iran because Israel was already set to do so.
Speaking at a press conference at the Capitol, he told reporters: “It was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack by anyone – the United States or Israel or anyone – they were going to respond, and respond against the United States.
"We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action. We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t pre-emptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties.”
He was subsequently publicly contradicted by Trump, who said: “If anything, I might have forced Israel’s hand.”
Attempting to clarify his remarks during another media briefing the following day, Rubio said: “I told you, this had to happen anyway, the president made a decision, and the decision he made was that Iran was not going to be allowed to hide behind its ballistic missile programme.
"The bottom line is this. We, the president, determined we were not going to get hit first.”
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