Michael Ignatieff recently wrote an article for the New-York Times Magazine in which he admitted to having been wrong to support the US-lead invasion of Iraq.

I was personally very pleased to read his article and felt his admission was a sign of true leadership and maturity that deserved to recognised, but as could have been expected, the country’s main newspapers lived up to their cynical reputation and decided to use Ignatieff’s apology as a medium for voicing more cheap criticism against him.

Globe and Mail columnist Margaret Wente devotes a whole column to showing that Ignatieff only made his apology for political gain. She calls the column “The Torture of Being Iggy” and writes sarcastically “This discovery has been a chastening, yet enlightening, experience. It has made him humbler, yet wiser, and even more qualified to be a leader. What a great prime minister he'd be!” and “it's designed to get the millstone of Iraq off his neck for good.”

She then reopens the old debate about the depth of Ignatieff’s commitment to Canada by pointing out that he published the article in an American magazine and writes: “Personally, I think it's smart PR, on account of the Lorne Greene effect. That is, you get 10 times more attention for anything you do in the U.S. than anything you do in Canada.”

In the Francophone press, it’s the same song. In an letter published today by LeDevoir titled Pourquoi? (Why?), the writer, Mr. Denis Christian Morin says “being a parliamentarian would have opened his eyes? Today, he says he has to take account of reality.”

Ignatieff’s apology may have been formulated solely for political gain, and he may still be an American at heart, but my parents have always taught me the importance of moving on after arguments. “Once everyone has apologized” they tell me, “there’s no justification for reopening the argument.”

Ignatieff has admitted to having made what everyone now knows was a mistake in judgement. He may have done so for the wrong reasons, but in the end, it really doesn’t matter. By using his apology as a further reason for attacking him, the country’s newspapers are making it even riskier for our politicians to admit their mistakes. That’s not the message they ought to be sending.