Joseph Kent, who was the Director of the National Counterterrorism Center in the Trump administration, resigned on Tuesday, March 17.

In his letter of resignation to President Trump, Mr. Kent asserts that “Israeli officials” orchestrated a “misinformation campaign” that “deceived” Mr. Trump “into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat” to the US Mr. Kent then asserts: “This was a lie and is the same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war[.]” And because the current Iran war is based on a “lie,” he feels compelled to resign.

Mr. Kent is a man with an admirable record of US military service, and also some very strange notions about Israel and the US.

Regarding the US war against Iraq in 2003: The truth is that Israel actually tried to convince then-President George W. Bush not to attack Iraq; this was confirmed by a senior official in Bush’s State Department. As early as 2002, Israel urged the US to concentrate its efforts in the Middle East on countering Iran and not Iraq. No Israeli “lies” caused the US to attack Iraq in 2003.

Turning to the current conflict with Iran, we should carefully note that Mr. Kent’s allegation is not that Israel........

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