Should the U.S. apologize to Maher Arar?

U.S. human rights and religious groups are calling on their country to apologize officially to Maher Arar, the Canadian citizen who was tortured in Syria after being deported there by U.S. officials on terror allegations in 2002.

"The United States should not have sent him to another country to be tortured," said Rev. Richard Kilmer, the executive director of the National Religious Coalition Against Torture.

"That's illegal, it's clearly immoral and the best way to handle any mistake that a nation or an individual makes is to in fact apologize for it, and that's what needs to happen."

Kilmer's group, along with Amnesty International USA and the Center for Constitutional Rights, has delivered a petition - containing 60,000 signatures - to President Barack Obama asking for the apology.

The government of Canada has acknowledged that Arar was mistakenly identified as an al-Qaeda supporter and officially apologized for its role in his treatment in 2007.

The U.S. never has.

Should it? Why or why not? Do you think justice has been served in Maher Arar's case? Share your comments in the field below.


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