US Defence Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that congressional opposition makes the likelihood of closing the Guantanamo Bay prison "very, very low", dpa reported.
"I think we're in the position, frankly, that the prospects for closing Guantanamo, as best I can tell, are very, very low, given very broad opposition to doing that here in the Congress," Gates told a Senate hearing.
President Barack Obama signed a directive two days after his January 20, 2009, inauguration to shutter the controversial prison facility within a year.
But he has encountered opposition from Congress and has been unable to find enough countries willing to take prisoners deemed eligible for release. There are 172 detainees remaining on the US naval base in Cuba.
Congress has passed legislation blocking the transfer of detainees to US soil for possible trials, and moved to raise standards for releasing a detainee to another country.
Obama has said he wants to try some of the detainees in US courts, and others under a revised military commission system set up by his predecessor, George W Bush.
Obama has said he remains committed to closing Guantanamo.
...