WASHINGTON, (Reuters) – U.S. President Barack Obama  yesterday revived the system of military trials for foreign  terrorism suspects at Guantanamo, angering supporters who said  he had broken a promise to end the controversial tribunals set  up by the Bush administration.

The Democratic president said the commissions would be  restarted as an option for trying prisoners at the U.S.  military base in Cuba after undergoing several rule changes,  including barring statements made under harsh interrogation and  making it more difficult to use hearsay evidence.

“These reforms will begin to restore the commissions as a  legitimate forum for prosecution, while bringing them in line  with the rule of law,” said Obama, who opposed the law that  created the tribunals during the administration of his  Republican predecessor, President George W. Bush.

“He (the president) is determined to reform the military  commissions as an available form, along with the federal  courts, for prosecution of detainees at Guantanamo,” Pentagon  spokesman Bryan Whitman told reporters.

Republicans welcomed the move. Senate Republican leader  Mitch McConnell called it an “encouraging development.” Obama’s  presidential rival John McCain said it was a step toward a  comprehensive detainee policy that “accords with our values and  protects our national security.”

Rights groups, which have been long been critical of  Washington’s treatment of foreign terrorism suspects and the  use of the detention center at Guantanamo Bay, condemned the  decision.

“By resurrecting this failed Bush administration idea,  President Obama is backtracking dangerously on his reform  agenda,” said Kenneth Roth, head of Human Rights Watch.

Amnesty International accused Obama, who took office in  January, of breaking a major campaign promise.

“These military commissions are inherently illegitimate,  unconstitutional and incapable of delivering outcomes that we  can trust. Tweaking the rules of these failed tribunals so that  they provide ‘more due process’ is absurd,” said Anthony Romero  of the American Civil Liberties Union.

The decision was the second in less than a week to anger  Obama’s liberal supporters. Earlier this week, he reversed a  previous decision and announced he would seek to prevent the  release of photographs showing alleged abuse of prisoners,  saying the images could endanger U.S. troops abroad.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs, asked at a briefing if  Obama was worried about alienating his most loyal supporters,  defended the decisions.

“Look, first and foremost the president of the United  States is going to do what he believes is in the best security  interests of the people of the United States,” he said.

Obama has promised to close Guantanamo Bay prison by 2010.  The prison was set up in 2002 at the U.S. base on the  southeastern tip of Cuba to house foreign prisoners in the U.S.  war on terrorism that Bush declared after the hijacked plane  attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001.

Gibbs said the decision to proceed with military  commissions would not block the closure, but the administration  was working to determine where the tribunals could be held once  Guantanamo closes. He also indicated some prisoners would be  shifted to the U.S. court system.