WASHINGTON - PRESIDENT Barack Obama sought on Thursday to quell a domestic backlash against his efforts to close the internationally condemned US prison at Guantanamo Bay and roll back some of the most divisive Bush-era anti-terrorism policies.

Mr Obama made his case in a much-anticipated speech a day after the US Senate, controlled by fellow Democrats, handed him a stinging setback by blocking funds to shutter the prison until he presents a detailed plan on what to do with the 240 terrorism suspects held there.

Cheney sharply criticizes Obama WASHINGTON - FORMER Vice President Dick Cheney on Thursday sharply criticized President Barack Obama's handling of terrorism policy and defended harsh interrogation methods that Mr Obama has labeled torture. ... more

Mr Obama, who succeeded Republican George W Bush on Jan 20, had vowed in his first days in office to close the detention center, located at a US Naval base in Cuba, within a year as part of his effort to repair America's tarnished image abroad.

But implementation of Mr Obama's revamped approach on detention and interrogation of terrorism suspects has proved more difficult than his administration expected.

'We uphold our most cherished values not only because doing so is right, but because it strengthens our country and keeps us safe,' Mr Obama said at the National Archives as he tried to wrest back control of the debate.

Seeking to calm Americans' fears that some detainees could end up released on US soil, Mr Obama insisted he would not authorise the freeing of anyone who would endanger national security. But he said some terrorism suspects could be tried in US courts and be held in maximum-security US prisons.

Mr Obama's speech, however, appeared to stop short of providing the specifics demanded by friends and critics alike.

In a sharp counterpoint, former Vice President Dick Cheney, an architect of Bush's detainee policy and a harsh critic of Mr Obama's efforts to dismantle it, was due to give a speech on 'Keeping America Safe' at the same time at a Washington thinktank.

Mr Obama renewed his commitment to a January 2010 deadline for closing Guantanamo.

The prison, opened in 2002 as part of Mr Bush's war on terrorism that followed the Sept 11, 2001, attacks on the United States, has long been the target of criticism by international human rights groups that accused the Bush administration of condoning torture of inmates held there.

Despite his high public approval rating, Mr Obama faces a major test of his leadership as he tries to quell a controversy that threatens to divert his attention from his declared top priority of rescuing the ailing US economy. -- REUTERS