By Rita Cook
Correspondent
Texas Metro News
WASHINGTON DC – The war in Iran – I am calling it war because while I am over here in Europe this week that is how it is being defined.
People are asking me what I think.
Since I am not in DC making the decisions what I think is irrelevant to the actual facts, but it is true most people who have a sense of politics in the United States and abroad are aware of the possibility that this current situation between the US and Iran does have Israel written on it.
Certainly, no one is saying Iran did not have problems that needed to be corrected, but that is a rabbit hole I am not going down because situations around the world are not always as appearances indicate.
At this point, however, there are certainly people in Washington who are questioning President Donald Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran.
Joe Kent who was one of the top counterterrorism officials in the United States serving as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center was one of those people.
Kent had been in his job for eight months when he resigned last week at the National Counterterrorism Center, which is the US agency responsible for coordinating and analyzing terrorism intelligence.
He posted his resignation letter on X.
“After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today.
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.
I support the values and the foreign policies that you campaigned on in 2016, 2020, 2024, which you enacted in your first term. Until June of 2025, you understood that the wars in the Middle East were a trap that robbed America of the precious lives of our patriots and depleted the wealth and prosperity of our nation.
In your first administration, you understood better than any modern President how to decisively apply military power without getting us drawn into never-ending wars. You demonstrated this by killing Qasam Solamani and by defeating ISIS.
Early in this administration, 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.
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.
It was an honor to serve in your administration and to serve our great nation.
Joseph Kent
Director, National Counterterrorism Center
Kent was a soldier with the US Army Special Forces who completed 11 combat deployments, including in the US-led war in Iraq.
Tulsi Gabbard, the director of national intelligence said of Kent “His experience serving as the tip of the spear in some of the world’s most dangerous battlefields has given him a deep, practical understanding of the enduring and evolving threat of Islamist terrorism.”
Alongside Kent, it has been said Gabbard, and Vice President JD Vance were skeptical of the current US military intervention in Iran.
The Republican party is now torn between Kent’s departure.
Trump merely said, “I always thought he was a nice guy, but I always thought he was weak on security,” which calls to question why Kent was appointed to the position eight months ago at all if that was the President’s thoughts.
This past Wednesday it was also noted Kent is under investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) due to an alleged leak of classified information.
The investigation is said to predate his departure from his post as National Counterterrorism Center Director. Kent is to date, the first senior member of Trump’s administration to step down due to the war in Iran.
