The resignation of top national security official Joe Kent, in protest of the Iran War, is big news. Matthew Hoh has a unique vantage point on what it means to resign in opposition to a war. In 2009, after being appointed to the Foreign Service, he resigned his post in Afghanistan over the Obama administration’s escalation of the Afghan War.
Hoh said today: “The reality is that for every person like Joe Kent, who speaks out and resigns over policy, many do not. Kent’s criticism that the war on Iran is an unnecessary war driven by Israeli interests is a view that many within the U.S. government likely hold as well. It certainly is a view held by many commentators, many of them former U.S. military officers, diplomats or intelligence officials.”
Hoh added: “Whether Israel is the direct cause of this war, or the cause is the more general systematic reality of the American empire, the importance to the American people is that their interests are not being included in the decisions to start and sustain this war.”
An essay that Hoh posted today shares his outlook on contexts of the U.S. and Israeli war against Iran.
MATTHEW HOH, [email protected]
Hoh is now an analyst and commentator on foreign and military policy issues as a senior fellow with the Eisenhower Media Network. He is a disabled Marine Corps veteran of the Iraq War and former Afghan War State Department Officer.