Report says U.S. near to closing Guantanamo facility

Report says U.S. near to closing Guantanamo facility
WASHINGTON: The U.S. is all set to close the controversial Guantanamo Bay detention center, a report by Associated Press said Friday. However, the Bush administration declined to react to the report that the closure was imminent.

Meanwhile, in an apparently related development, a White House meeting scheduled for Friday to discuss on the future of the prison was called off at the last moment.

The closure of the facility, which houses several terror suspects, and which is used by the administration to question them, had been a long-standing demand by human rights activists. They had described the indefinite detention of the suspects without trial at the center a violation of human rights.

The report, quoting senior administration officials, said consensus is building on the proposal to shut the center and shift the detainees to other department of defense prisons.
Senior administration officials have said earlier the facility will have to eventually close down.

However, a White House spokesperson said no decision on the future of the center is imminent. She said President Bush desired to close the facility but in a responsible manner.

Some 380 suspected al Qaeda and Taliban operatives are held in captivity at Guantanamo, including 14 high-level detainees earlier held in secret CIA prisons. Among them is Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind behind the 11 September 2001 attacks.

The U.S. Supreme Court had a year ago struck down the system of military trials of the prisoners lodged at the Guantanamo center. However, Bush could manage to pass legislation in the erstwhile Republican-led Congress setting a new system of military tribunals. He had then said the prison was a major tool in the war on terrorism.

A senior Bush aide, defense secretary Robert M. Gates, has said the prison should be closed. He has told congressional panels that he has been urging for the closure and moving the detainees to U.S. military courts. Former secretary of state Colin L. Powell too had called for its closure.