Maher Arar, the Canadian who got more than $10 million from the Canadian government for its role in Arar’s rendition to Syria, has lost his suit against U.S. officials in an en banc Second Circuit decision.

The assumption that Arar is an innocent oppressed by Canadian and U.S. antiterrorism agencies was never well supported by the record, but mainstream Canadian media didn’t seem interested in probing Arar’s story.  The Western Standard points out some of the weaknesses in the commission report that cast Arar as the hero and U.S. and Canadian authorities as the villains – and resulted in the $10 million payout.