Anger at Obama’s decision not to prosecute CIA

HUMAN rights groups and former detainees in US custody expressed disappointment yesterday with the decision by President Barack Obama not to prosecute CIA operatives who used interrogation practices described by many as torture.

Obama sought to turn a page on what he called “a dark and painful chapter” with his announcement a day earlier. He condemned the aggressive techniques — including waterboarding, shackling and stripping — used on terror suspects while promising not to legally pursue the perpetrators.

But the decision left some bitter in the Muslim world, where there was widespread anger over abuse of detained terror suspects. It could tarnish Obama’s growing popularity among Arabs and Muslims, who have cheered his promises to close the Guantanamo Bay detention facilities and withdraw troops from Iraq.