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On Thursday, we had the capper. Fife again — he is quickly becoming the Paul Revere of all Khadr news — gave us the revelations that the $10.5 million, tax free be it noted, had already been handed over. Process complete. A government famously so sluggish in so many areas — veterans’ treatment comes first to mind — went full Road Runner getting the cash to Khadr.

Three things mark the Khadr announcement. The government didn’t want in any visible way to be associated with it. They wanted it done swiftly and with maximum distraction. And they didn’t want Trudeau on the same continent when the news broke.

Why so coy, it must be asked? Why would Trudeau and his government, having done, as I am sure in later days they will emphatically insist, the right thing, the just thing, the principled thing, the Charter-compliant thing, be so shy of association with their own high righteousness?

Most likely because there are so many questions about the Khadr absolution and jackpot he doesn’t want to answer or cannot.

Why the outlandish amount? Does not repatriation, removal from the American system of justice, and a full apology from the entire government of Canada signify a generous correction by the Canadian state of what it perceives as the wrongs done to Khadr?

What does he think is the response of Canadian soldiers, particularly veterans of Afghanistan, to this deal? I’d say they are furious. He owes the servicemen and women an accounting. If he is confident of the rightness of the award, the amount, the instant payment, and the state apology, he owes them his thinking on the matter. Not some jumbled vapourizing on process mumbled reluctantly over shamrocks and sock displays in Ireland.