Arar's much deserved apology...

Maher Arar, the man who was deported to Syria by the US only to be tortured for reasons still unknown, has finally been granted an apology. His claim with the Canadian state has been settled for a paltry ten mill.

Personally I think that Mr Arar's next move should be to sue the US government. That's the only way he can clear his name - especially with the US still wanting to keep him on their watch list.

What has Mr Arar done wrong? What is the evidence against him? Those questions unless answered continue to put a cloud over him. No man should have to live with the burden he now faces... He's an "alledged" terrorist. Without proof or an articulated reason he is branded forever now.

What the US does in response to this is entirely up to them. I prefer to deal with the issue of Canadian culpability surrounding this case rather than tell another capable democracy what to do.

Some Liberals are shamelessly trying to pin blame solely on the Conservative Party, the Prime Minister, and Stockwell Day for Mr Arar's difficulties.

Why? Because the Conservatives used leaks they had received on the Arar case to attack the government at the time for being "soft on terror."

Leaving the question aside as to whether the government at the time was "soft on terror" (which it most certainly was) the question is does Stockwell Day hold some culpability over this? In opinion yes he does.

But politics favors those that are like elephants with long memories. I distinctly remember before the conclusion of the trial Stockwell Day making the comment to the effect that he, and perhaps other opposition MP's, had been briefed on the Arar affair and had been assured by the Liberal government that the RCMP had good information that Arar was indeed a threat.

So indeed Stockwell Day is guilty of something: trusting Liberals. It was the Liberals who were deceived on this issue. Stockwell Day and the party at the time should have been more cautious in using Arar as centerpiece of the attack on what they believed was a government "soft on terror."

At the end of the day Mr Arar and other Canadians find themselves still asking the same question: why?

Until that gets answered this case is nowhere near over.