{"id":2581696,"date":"2026-03-19T11:19:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-19T15:19:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fraud-why-did-joe-kent-just-quit-over-iran-strikes-when-he-called-to-crush-their-nuclear-program-in-2020\/"},"modified":"2026-03-19T11:21:33","modified_gmt":"2026-03-19T15:21:33","slug":"fraud-why-did-joe-kent-just-quit-over-iran-strikes-when-he-called-to-crush-their-nuclear-program-in-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/fraud-why-did-joe-kent-just-quit-over-iran-strikes-when-he-called-to-crush-their-nuclear-program-in-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"Fraud? Why Did Joe Kent Just Quit Over Iran Strikes When He Called to &#8216;Crush&#8217; Their Nuclear Program in 2020?"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"float:left\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">40<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Ffraud-why-did-joe-kent-just-quit-over-iran-strikes-when-he-called-to-crush-their-nuclear-program-in-2020%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2581696&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>Former National Counterterrorism Center director Joe Kent resigned, saying he could not continue serving in good conscience because he believed Iran did not pose an imminent threat to the United States.<\/p>\n<p>Key points the article presents:<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; A resurfaced 2020 post by Kent suggested a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/biden-wont-lift-iran-sanctions-until-they-stop-uranium-enrichment-still-wants-to-rejoin-deal\/\" title=\"Biden won\u2019t lift ... sanctions until they stop uranium enrichment, still wants to rejoin deal\">hard-line stance<\/a> against Iran and even argued for destroying it&#8217;s ballistic and nuclear capabilities, contradicting his current claim of no imminent threat.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Kent is described as having over 20 years in the Army as a Green Beret and as a Gold Star widower whose wife Shannon Kent was killed in Syria in 2019.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; While praising Kent\u2019s long service, the piece argues he should not be excused for slanderous, anti-Israel-tinged rhetoric against the Trump administration, including claims of a misinformation campaign by Israeli officials and American media.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; The article cites reports that Kent was a known leaker, cut out of intelligence briefings, and may have shared information with choice media outlets.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; It notes reactions from conservative figures, including Mark Levin, who accused Kent of leaking to tucker Carlson, and Aishah Hasnie of Fox News, who reported on Kent\u2019s alleged untrustworthiness.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; the piece frames Iran as a long-standing threat and portrays the U.S. and Israel\u2019s actions as warranted \u201csurgery\u201d to address that threat, while suggesting Kent\u2019s anti-Semitic tone and ideological fixation hindered his credibility.<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; the resignation is presented as principled, but not a reason to overlook kent\u2019s statements or alleged leaks; it\u2019s characterized as a advancement that sane observers should acknowledge, without endorsing his broader rhetoric.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<p><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><?xml encoding=\"utf-8\" ?><\/p>\n<section> \t\t\t\t<script>console.log(\"ad slot (AC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC2)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC3)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (IC4)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (REP_0)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (REP_1)\")<\/script><script>console.log(\"ad slot (REP_2)\")<\/script><\/p>\n<p>A resignation on principle that rocked the Beltway this week isn&rsquo;t looking so principled after all.<\/p>\n<p>When Joe Kent, the now-former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, very publicly announced on Tuesday that he&rsquo;s quitting over the Iran war, he <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/trumps-national-counterterrorism-center-director-resigns-protest\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">claimed<\/a> he could not serve &ldquo;in good conscience&rdquo; when he believed Iran &ldquo;posed no imminent threat to our nation.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>That&rsquo;s lunacy, just considering the murderous mullahs&rsquo; history alone, but a <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\" >resurfaced social media post makes<\/a> it look like a lie, too &mdash; and from a man accused of being a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/all-fbi-agents-must-blow-their-whistles-or-theyll-be-complicit-in-bureaus-politicization\/\" title=\"All FBI Agents Must Blow Their Whistles Or They\u2019ll Be Complicit In Bureau\u2019s Politicization\">high-level leak<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>In a 2020 <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/joekent16jan19\/status\/1214960125200330752\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">post<\/a> on the platform then known as Twitter, in fact, Kent made exactly the opposite argument.<\/p>\n<p>Here&rsquo;s a screen shot, in case it&rsquo;s mysteriously disappeared at some point:<\/p>\n<p> <script type=\"text\/javascript\"> \t\t\tif ( getCookie( \"ff_subbed\" ) ) { \t\t\t\tdocument.getElementById(\"anyclipvideo\").remove() \t\t\t} else { \t\t\t\tdocument.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\", function() { \t\t\t\t\tfunction loadAnyclip() { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst container=document.getElementById(\"anyclipvideo\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!container) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst script=document.createElement(\"script\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.src=\"https:\/\/player.anyclip.com\/anyclip-widget\/lre-widget\/prod\/v1\/src\/lre.js\"; \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.setAttribute(\"pubname\", \"westernjournalcom\"); \t\t\t\t\t\tscript.setAttribute(\"widgetname\", \"001w000001jULVcAAO_M12924\");  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ append inside the container so player shows in correct spot \t\t\t\t\t\tcontainer.appendChild(script); \t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\tfunction findPreviousParagraph(selector, x) { \t\t\t\t\t\tconst targetElement=document.querySelector(selector); \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!targetElement) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Target element not found.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Get all <\/p>\n<p> elements in order as they appear in the document \t\t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphs=Array.from(document.querySelectorAll(\"p\"));  \t\t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the index of the last <\/p>\n<p> before the target element \t\t\t\t\t\tlet targetIndex=paragraphs.findIndex(p=> p.compareDocumentPosition(targetElement) & Node.DOCUMENT_POSITION_PRECEDING);  \t\t\t\t\t\tif (targetIndex===-1 || targetIndex <x) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.warn(\"Not enough paragraphs before the target element.\"); \t\t\t\t\t\t\treturn null; \t\t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\treturn paragraphs[targetIndex - x]; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Set up IntersectionObserver \t\t\t\t\tfunction observeElement(element) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif (!element) return;  \t\t\t\t\t\tconst observer=new IntersectionObserver( \t\t\t\t\t\t\t(entries)=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tentries.forEach(entry=> { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tif (entry.isIntersecting) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log(\"Paragraph is now visible:\", entry.target.textContent.trim()); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tloadAnyclip(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.disconnect(); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t\t\t\t}, \t\t\t\t\t\t\t{ threshold: 0.5 } \/\/ Adjust threshold as needed \t\t\t\t\t\t);  \t\t\t\t\t\tobserver.observe(element); \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\t\/\/ Find the 1st paragraph before #anyclipvideo and observe it \t\t\t\t\tlet paragraphToObserve=findPreviousParagraph(\"#anyclipvideo\", 2); \t\t\t\t\tobserveElement(paragraphToObserve); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> <\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;I personally think we should have crushed their ballistic &amp; nuke capes, but Trump has a plan, he has definitely earned the confidence of any clear eyed observer,&rdquo; Kent wrote on Jan. 19, 2020, in response to a since-deleted post.<\/p>\n<p>At the time, Kent was an Army Green Beret who&rsquo;d served more than 20 years, including combat deployments to Iraq, according to a Forbes <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2026\/03\/17\/who-is-joe-kent-green-beret-maga-loyalist-former-political-candidate-who-quit-over-iran\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">profile<\/a> published on Tuesday.<\/p>\n<p>He was also a Gold Star widower whose wife, Shannon, had been a linguist and cryptographer who served with the Navy SEALS. She was killed in a suicide bomb attack in Syria in 2019, Forbes reported.<\/p>\n<p>So, to be clear, he&rsquo;s paid his dues &mdash; and then some. He&rsquo;s given far more to this country in terms of service than most Americans have, by far. He&rsquo;s risked more. And he&rsquo;s lost more.<\/p>\n<p>That demands both admiration and respect. There&rsquo;s no question about that.<\/p>\n<p>What it does not merit, though, is a free pass for Kent&rsquo;s slanderous going-out-the-door accusations against the Trump administration, or the undeniably anti-Semitic tone of the &ldquo;arguments&rdquo; he presented.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;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,&rdquo; Kent <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/joekent16jan19\/status\/2033897242986209689\/photo\/1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;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 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/trumps-counterterrorism-director-resigns-over-iran-war\/\" title=\"Trump&#039;s counterterrorism director resigns over ... war\">sowed pro-war sentiments<\/a> to encourage a war with Iran.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>First of all, this war that the U.S. supposedly &ldquo;started&rdquo; at the behest of the Jews has been going on since Ayatollah Khomeini took power in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/ap-iranians-take-streets-anniversary-us-embassy-takeover-chanting-death-america\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">1979<\/a>. Granted, that was a year before Kent was born, and long before he put on the uniform of the United States Army, but a man who&rsquo;s lived the life he has should understand that.<\/p>\n<p>Second, claiming Iran is not an &ldquo;imminent threat&rdquo; to the United States either employs a dishonestly flexible definition of &ldquo;imminent&rdquo; and &ldquo;threat,&rdquo; or simply disregards the meaning of words entirely.<\/p>\n<p>The Islamic Republic has been a cancer on the global body politic for almost half a century &mdash; and a particular enemy of the United States, the country it calls &ldquo;the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/mourners-soleimani-funeral-chant-death-israel-america-great-satan\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Great Satan<\/a>.&rdquo; Its existence is a threat the way a malignant tumor is a threat.<\/p>\n<p>The current military action by the United States and Israel is aimed at excising that cancer. It&rsquo;s a surgery that&rsquo;s long overdue.<\/p>\n<p>Sane men and women can see that if they try just a little bit.<\/p>\n<p>Kent is clearly not interested in trying &mdash; in fact, if reports are true, he&rsquo;s more interested in seeking out companions who are as delusional as he is, to the point where he was allegedly funneling administration information to friendly ears in the alternative media.<\/p>\n<p>Mark Levin &mdash; author, radio host and one of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/mark-levin-uses-6th-grad-econ-test-show-harris-inflation-plan-wont-work\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">great conservative voices<\/a> of this or any other generation &mdash; took to the social media platform X on Wednesday to accuse Kent of leaking news of Levin&rsquo;s meeting with Trump in June 2024 to the former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, a man whose <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/watch-ted-cruz-tucker-carlson-get-full-shouting-match-iran\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">anti-Israel positions<\/a> become more pronounced by the day.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">I know what my grandfather would say about what Kent wrote in his letter. He was a Marine. He fought on Iwo Jima. &nbsp;He was Jewish. He&rsquo;d be furious.<\/p>\n<p>I know for a fact Kent leaked to Tucker Carlson a meeting the President had with me, at the President&rsquo;s request, which Carlson in&hellip;<\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/marklevinshow\/status\/2034226474773848306?\">March 18, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>(Yes, Carlson was a conservative star for years and a favorite of right-thinking writers at publications like The Western Journal. But when facts change, opinions change. Now, the guy who claims demanding an Iranian &ldquo;unconditional surrender&rdquo; means <a href=\"https:\/\/www.yahoo.com\/news\/articles\/tucker-carlson-claims-trump-push-004608297.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Americans raping Iranian women<\/a> at will might want to look into the life of <a href=\"https:\/\/allthatsinteresting.com\/charles-lindbergh-antisemitism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Charles Lindbergh<\/a> to see how appeasing anti-Semitic foreign dictators works out for former American heroes.)<\/p>\n<p>Of course, Levin&rsquo;s word might not count for much with Kent, Carlson, and Co. &mdash; Levin being a Jew, and all, as well as one of those &ldquo;influential members of the American media&rdquo; Kent doesn&rsquo;t think much of.<\/p>\n<p>But he isn&rsquo;t the only one claiming Kent was taking his discontent out by talking out of school.<\/p>\n<p>Fox News&rsquo; Aishah Hasnie &mdash; a <a href=\"https:\/\/wikibiography.in\/aishah-hasnie-wiki-bio\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Pakistan-born Muslim<\/a>, for what it&rsquo;s worth &mdash; reported Tuesday that Kent was a &ldquo;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/breaking-report-joe-kent-leaker-cut-presidents-intel-briefings-months\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">known leaker<\/a>&rdquo; who&rsquo;d been &ldquo;cut out of POTUS intelligence briefings months ago.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>He wasn&rsquo;t, in short, trusted by his co-workers in the Trump administration to keep in-house talk in-house, per that report.<\/p>\n<p>Considering he was a &ldquo;counterterrorism director&rdquo; who somehow concluded that the world&rsquo;s undisputed champion of state-sponsored terror posed no &ldquo;imminent threat&rdquo; to the United States, he shouldn&rsquo;t have been trusted by his co-workers, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/trump-reacts-administration-official-resigning-iran-war\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">or the president<\/a>, to do in-house work at all.<\/p>\n<p>And considering that he supposedly reached that conclusion <em>six years after<\/em> publicly stating the need to have destroyed Tehran&rsquo;s &ldquo;ballistic &amp; nuke capes&rdquo; &mdash; presumably meaning ballistic missiles and nuclear capabilities &mdash; his word shouldn&rsquo;t be trusted by the American people.<\/p>\n<p>When a man is blinded by any ideology &mdash; very much including anti-Semitism &mdash; the truth can be the hardest thing to see.<\/p>\n<p>This is one resignation the White House, Republicans, and sane Americans shouldn&rsquo;t regret &mdash; just on principle.<\/p>\n<div style=\"position: relative;\">\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<div class=\"entry-submit-correction inner-content\">\n<div class=\"correction-form\">\n<form style=\"display: none;\">\n<div class=\"sc-name-field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* Name<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"name\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<div class=\"sc--field\"> \t\t\t\t\t\t<label>* <\/label> \t\t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"text\" name=\"\" required> \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<label>* Message<\/label> \t\t\t\t\t<br \/> \t\t\t\t\t<textarea name=\"message\" required><\/textarea> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"required-message\" style=\"display: none; padding-bottom: 15px;\">* All fields are required.<\/div>\n<p> \t\t\t\t\t<input type=\"submit\" value=\"Submit\" onclick=\"event.preventDefault(); firefly_sc();\"> \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"firefly-sc-confirm\" style=\"display: none;\">Success!<\/div>\n<\/p><\/form>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p> \t\t<script> \t\t\tfunction firefly_sc() { \t\t\t\tif( typeof window.captchaPublicKey==typeof undefined ){ \t\t\t\t\tconsole.error('window.captchaPublicKey is not defined'); \t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\tgrecaptcha.execute( window.captchaPublicKey, { action: 'submit_correction' } ).then( function( token ) { \t\t\t\t\tvar opts={ \t\t\t\t\t\taction:    'firefly_sc_submit', \t\t\t\t\t\tname:      document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"name\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\t:     document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tmessage:   document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"message\"]' ).value, \t\t\t\t\t\tpost_id:   firefly_post_id, \t\t\t\t\t\tcap_token: token \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tvar inputs=[ 'name', '', 'message' ];  \t\t\t\t\tfor( var i=0; i <inputs.length; i++ ) if( ! ( opts[inputs[i]]=document.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction [name=\"' + inputs[i] + '\"]' ).value ) ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .required-message' ).style.display='block'; \t\t\t\t\t\treturn; \t\t\t\t\t}  \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction input[type=\"submit\"]' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).src=firefly_loading_gif_url; \t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='inline-block';  \t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( 'ma subbing' );  \t\t\t\t\tif( firefly_post_id ) opts['post_id']=firefly_post_id;  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Send the data using post with element id name and name2*\/ \t\t\t\t\tvar posting=jQuery.post( firefly_ajax_url, opts );  \t\t\t\t\t\/* Alerts the results *\/ \t\t\t\t\tposting.done( function( response ) { \t\t\t\t\t\tif( response.success ) { \t\t\t\t\t\t\tconsole.log( response.data ); \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-submitting-img' ).style.display='none'; \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdocument.querySelector( '.entry-submit-correction .firefly-sc-confirm' ).style.display='block';  \t\t\t\t\t\t\tdataLayer.push( { 'event': 'submit-correction' } ); \t\t\t\t\t\t} \t\t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t\t}); \t\t\t} \t\t<\/script> \t     \t\t\t\t\t\t     \t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n<p style=\"border: 1px solid #f5f5f5; padding: 16px;\">Advertise with The Western Journal and reach millions of highly engaged readers, while supporting our work. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/advertise-us\/?wj_source=article\">Advertise Today<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><script>console.log(\"ad slot (BA1)\")<\/script> \t\t<\/p>\n<div class=\"ff-fancy-header-container\"> \t\t\t \t<\/div>\n<\/section>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Here\u2019s a paraphrase of the provided piece:<\/p>\n<p>A resignation by Joe Kent, the former head of the National Counterterrorism Center, on principle over the Iran war is cast as less principled than it first appeared. Kent publicly said he was stepping down because he could not serve \u201cin good conscience\u201d since he believed Iran did not pose an imminent threat to the U.S. But a resurfaced 2020 post suggests the opposite view, and the piece notes Kent has been accused of being a high-level leaker.<\/p>\n<p>The 2020 post, shown in a screenshot, argued that Iran posed no imminent threat and implied the war was driven by pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby. The account links this to a broader claim of a misinformation campaign by Israeli officials and certain U.S. media to promote war with Iran. The article emphasizes Kent\u2019s background as an Army Green Beret with over two decades of service, including combat deployments, and notes that his wife Shannon-who served with Navy SEALs as a linguist and cryptographer-was killed in a 2019 suicide bombing in Syria. It argues that, while his sacrifices deserve admiration and respect, they do not excuse or justify Kent\u2019s accusations against the Trump administration or the anti-Semitic tone the piece attributes to his rhetoric.<\/p>\n<p>Kent alleged that Iran posed no imminent threat and that the U.S. war was manufactured by pro-war forces linked to Israel. The piece contends his framing relies on a contested definition of \u201cimminent threat\u201d and \u201cthreat,\u201d and it describes Iran as a long-standing, malign adversary whose elimination would be a long overdue cure for a cancer-like danger. It also suggests Kent\u2019s public stance is more aligned with deluded or conspiratorial thinking than with sound analysis.<\/p>\n<p>The article notes further that Kent\u2019s credibility has been questioned by others. Fox News\u2019 Aishah Hasnie labeled him a \u201cknown leaker\u201d who had been excluded from presidential intelligence briefings, implying he could not be trusted to keep sensitive information private. Mark Levin accused Kent of leaking news about a meeting with Trump to Tucker Carlson, a claim Levin tied to Carlson\u2019s own anti-Israel views. The piece also points out that Kent\u2019s critics think he\u2019s leaking to sympathetic figures in the alternative media.<\/p>\n<p>Ultimately, the piece argues that Kent\u2019s resignation should not be treated as a principled stand. It suggests his stance reflects ideological bias, including anti-Semitic overtones, and that the White House, Republicans, and ordinary Americans should not regret his departure despite his long service<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2581697,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Ben-Working-Feature-Image-2026-03-18T180640.227.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[50410,3823,74804,76083,76135],"class_list":["post-2581696","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-controversy-2","tag-iran","tag-iran-strikes-2","tag-joe-kent-2","tag-nuclear-program-2"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/www.westernjournal.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Ben-Working-Feature-Image-2026-03-18T180640.227.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2581696","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2581696"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2581696\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2581700,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2581696\/revisions\/2581700"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2581697"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2581696"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2581696"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2581696"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}