The Chances of Closing Guantanamo Are Low, Says Gates

WASHINGTON — U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates said on Wednesday that the chances of closing Guantanamo are “very, very low” given the broad opposition in Congress to the proposal.

U.S. President Barack Obama has yet to keep his promise about closing Guantanamo, but the White House stated this week that he intends to do so. The prison has drawn international condemnation for the treatment of its detainees.

Gates, testifying to the Senate, saw little hope of a breakthrough with Congress, which passed a bill that Obama signed into law last month preventing terrorism suspects detained in Guantanamo from being tried in the U.S.

“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.

Obama is believed to be in the final stages of reviewing U.S. detention policy. In a speech delivered in May of 2009, Obama stated that there was a need for “prolonged detention” for some terrorism suspects who can’t be tried but pose a threat to security.

On Wednesday in Washington, CIA Director Leon Panetta told senators that if the al-Qaida leader, Osama bin Laden, were to be captured one day, it is likely that he would be sent to Guantanamo prison.