Gates: Closing Guantanamo prison ‘more complicated’

Full Story at CNN.com

“I think it has proven more complicated than anticipated,” Gates said in an interview broadcast Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Noting he had pushed for a firm deadline of January 2010 for closing the controversial facility, Gates said: “If you have to extend that date, if at least you have a strong plan showing you’re making progress in that direction, then this — it shouldn’t be a problem to extend it and we’ll just see whether that has to happen or not.”

In a separate interview on the ABC program “This Week,” Gates said closing the military prison on schedule would be “tough.”

Also on ABC, Republican Sen. John McCain of Arizona said he attended briefings in which he was told the Guantanamo facility was unlikely to close on schedule.