Washington in brief

Ridge believes attack averted

WASHINGTON - Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said Wednesday he believes security crackdowns over the Christmas holidays, including the cancellation of some passenger flights into the United States, averted a terrorist attack. But intelligence on the threat was so wispy that U.S. officials might never know for sure, he said.

The volume of threat information from many separate sources, some mentioning the same cities and the same international flights, was alarming and unprecedented, Ridge said. It led to the Dec. 21 raising of the national threat alert level to orange or "high risk." The index was lowered three weeks later.

"It was very unusual," he said. "My gut tells me we did" avert an al-Qaida operation during that time, he said Wednesday.

While he said Washington, Paris and London communicated well during the holiday alert, there also were "uncomfortable" moments. Ridge said he took responsibility for some of them because, about Dec. 20, with time running out amid fears over some Paris-to-New York flights, he called Air France officials to insist they take some security precautions without informing French officials.

WASHINGTON - President Bush drew parallels Wednesday between the war on terrorism and Winston Churchill's struggle against fascism, saying the United States will show the same resolve as the British leader demonstrated in World War II.

"We are the heirs of the tradition of liberty, defenders of the freedom, the conscience and the dignity of every person," the president said at the Library of Congress at the opening of a Churchill exhibit.

"Others before us have shown bravery and moral clarity in this cause," Bush said. "The same is now asked of us, and we accept the responsibilities of history."

WASHINGTON - In a rare move by a Cabinet member, Veterans Affairs Secretary Anthony Principi told a House committee he had sought $1.2-billion more than President Bush was willing to put in his budget.

Principi's disclosure came in response to a comment by ranking Democrat Rep. Lane Evans of Illinois during a House Veterans Affairs Committee hearing on the agency's budget.

"I asked OMB for $1.2-billion more than I received," Principi said, referring to the White House Office of Management and Budget.

Bush's $2.4-trillion budget sent to Congress on Monday proposes $65.3-billion for the agency. That includes a 1.8 percent increase in discretionary spending to $29.7-billion, which pays for veterans medical care.

WASHINGTON - A media firm working for President Bush's re-election campaign has a share of the administration's publicly funded $12.6-million advertising effort touting the new Medicare law.

National Media Inc. of Alexandria, Va., is buying $9.5-million worth of television advertising for a 30-second commercial the administration intends to educate seniors about changes in Medicare.

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