Gates expects quick progress on closing Guantanamo

Dec 3, 2009, 16:24 GMT

Washington - US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday he expects to see quick progress in closing the Guantanamo Bay detention centre once the plans have been finalized.

The US government is in the 'final stages' of finding an alternate site in the United States for holding prisoners who will not be released or transferred to another country, Gates told a Senate panel.

'As soon as we can finalize the logistics I think you'll see pretty quick progress after that,' he said.

US authorities are believed to be looking at prisons in Colorado, Illinois and Montana.

President Barack Obama has acknowledged he will not meet his self- imposed January 22 deadline to close the controversial facility for holdings suspects in the war on terrorism, but remains committed to do so.

'The logistics of it have proven more complicated than we anticipated, but I think we are about there,' Gates said.

There are still about 215 detainees at the prison on the US naval installation in Cuba. Gates said the Pentagon has identified 116 who are eligible to be transferred to other countries.

Obama established a task force dedicated to Guantanamo days after taking office to determine, among other things, which detainees can be released or transferred or tried in courts-martial or federal court.

The Justice Department announced in November Khalid Sheikh Mohammed and four other detainees suspected of plotting the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks will be tried in a New York federal court, while others will be brought before military commissions.