The new head of the Latvian Parliament’s foreign relations commission says U.S. President George Bush in his June 28 speech to America was wrong to link the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks to the war in Iraq.

Vaira Paegle, elected chairperson of the commission on June 15, said in a statement issued by the parliamentary press office that Bush mentioned the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, D.C., a total of six times, while at the same time noting that Iraq is the front line in the war against terrorism.

“In my opinion, that was a tactical error that can rebound,” Paegle said June 29, “because the terrorism in Iraq is a result of the war, not its cause.”

(According to a White House transcript of Bush’s speech, which defended continuing the U.S. presence in Iraq, the president explicitly mentioned Sept. 11 five, not six, times.)

However, Paegle said the U.S. president was smart not to offer quick, new solutions to guaranteeing security and political stability in Iraq.

“(The American people) crave the truth,” Paegle said, “not the rosy outlook on life offered by (Vice President Dick) Cheney and (Secretary of Defense Donald) Rumsfeld.”

Paegle, a member of the conservative Tautas partija (People’s Party), replaced Aleksandrs Kiršteins as chairperson of the commission after Kiršteins resigned from the post shortly after being drummed out of Tautas partija.

Born in Latvia, Paegle grew up in the United States after World War II but repatriated to her homeland after independence was restored.

Canada and Latvia are scheduled to sign an international social security agreement June 29 that will make it easier for citizens of both countries to receive state pensions and other benefits.

The agreement will still have to be ratified by both nations and probably won’t be in force until 2006. Latvia is the second Baltic state after Estonia to sign such an agreement with Canada.

A person who has worked in Canada now will be able to receive state welfare benefits while living in Latvia, Latvian Welfare Minister Dagnija Staķe explained in a press release. For Canada, the agreement will cover the Old Age Security program and the Canada Pension Plan.

To qualify for a Latvian state pension, a person must have contributed to the program for a minimum of 10 years. Under the agreement, years spent working in Canada will be added to years worked in Latvia to allow people to qualify for Latvian benefits.

Valdis Krastiņš, whose tour as Latvia’s ambassador to Finland ends this month, has been awarded one of that nation’s highest honors, the Order of the White Rose of Finland.

He received the honor June 21 during his last official meeting with Finnish President Tarja Halonen, according to the Embassy of Latvia in Helsinki.

Krastiņš became ambassador to Finland in 2000. Upon his return to Latvia, he will continue to work for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, which he joined in 1992.

The Order of the White Rose dates from 1919, when it was initiated by Carl Gustav Mannerheim.