Nope. No connection

ABC news tells us that Admiral Redd's resignation is not connected to his saying that the war in Iraq hasn't made us safer:

Three days after Americans saw the Bush administration's counterterrorism chief say the Iraq war has likely not made the United States safer from terrorism, the official announced his resignation, citing health reasons.

In an e-mail sent to his staff Wednesday afternoon, Adm. Scott Redd, head of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC), said he was stepping down to "take care of some long-delayed surgery that I can no longer neglect." ...

Redd's comment apparently contradicted an assertion made by President Bush's top counterterrorism adviser, Fran Townsend, that the terrorist threat "would have been worse" if the United States had not invaded Iraq.

NCTC spokesman Carl Kropf said Redd's decision to leave was "absolutely not" related to his comments, and that he had not been pressured in any way to step down.

No replacement has been named. When Redd leaves on Nov. 10, he will be temporarily replaced by his deputy until a new director is confirmed, Kropf said.

In a statement released this afternoon, Director of National Intelligence Mike McConnell thanked Redd for his service. "I know his decision to step down was difficult," McConnell said. A spokesman for his office said there was "no pressure whatsoever" on Redd to resign.

Assuming that you can believe anything McConnell says, there's always another way to look at this.

Maybe Redd, knowing he was going in to get his knees replaced and therefore knowing that he was going to resign, decided that that meant he could, oh, what's the word?, tell the truth.

Connections run both ways, you know.