This is a text about my Letter to the Washington Post (WaPo). I wrote the Letter on the occasion of the resignation of Joe Kent, Director of the United States National Counterterrorism Center.

In New York, I already recorded a video about this in Greek (Thursday night, March 19), where I read the Letter exactly as I sent it to the newspaper’s editorial desk. The Letter will be published in the Washington Post –in a slightly shorter version– online first and in print on March 21, 2026.

My Letter closes with the line:

“End this bloody war now, before our values, the spirit of 1776, and our democracy die in darkness.”

I warmly thank the Washington Post Opinions journalist Ryan Vogt for selecting my Letter and for his emails. Amid the sorrow of war, it is a small consolation to see a few of my anti-war words published in the newspaper that brought down Richard Nixon—and that many still read inside the White House. Thanks again, Mr. Vogt!

And I will say it again: END THIS WAR NOW! What follows is the Letter as it was sent.

***

Letter to the Washington Post

TO THE EDITOR:

Dear Sir/Madam,

As I read the Washington Post, my intuition says, the resignation of Joe Kent should ring like an alarm across the nation. A decorated patriot stepping down over Iran war is a warning. His words, “I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran” cut through the ashes of war and challenge it.

This conflict risks becoming Donald Trump’s Vietnam. Iran is no easy adversary: nearly a million under arms, mountainous terrain, decentralized command, and an empire in the past. And Americans have seen this before, overconfidence leading to endless wars.

The cost is already staggering, financially and morally. In the President’s words “unconditional surrender” sounds decisive, but what if it never comes? Meanwhile, we intercept $20,000 drones with $2 million missiles while borrowing billions weekly to sustain a ballooning deficit.

Yes, Iran’s record since 1979 is troubling and Israel has reasons to worry. But respect for adversaries has from ancient times been a mark of wise leadership. If we eliminate every adversary –men like Ali Larijani who understands Immanuel Kant and the West– we risk the same chaos, as in Iraq after the fall of Baghdad.

Trump’s “America First” was a promise to end wars, not to start one more. Joe Kent’s letter is the bell, before the Middle East becomes a graveyard for innocents caught in the crossfire. End this bloody war now, before our values, the spirit of 1776, and our democracy die in darkness.

Sincerely,

Dimitris Eleas, Brooklyn, New York City  

PS, I am a Greek-American writer and activist living in New York City. I read the Washington Post on daily basis.

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