US may close Guantanamo

US President George W Bush is on the verge of closing US detention facility Guantanamo Bay, according to reports.

Senior US administration officials have reportedly said that a consensus is building for a proposal to shut the centre in Cuba.

Detainees would apparently be transfered to one or more Defence Department facilities, including the maximum security military prison at Fort Leavenworth in the midwestern state of Kansas, where they could face trial.

Mr Bush's national security and legal advisers thought to include Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, Vice President Dick Cheney and Defence Secretary Robert Gates are scheduled to discuss the move at a meeting later, the officials said.

But the White House insisted that no decision on Guantanamo Bay's status is imminent.

"Senior officials have met on the issue in the past, and I expect they will meet on the issue in the future," said Gordon Johndroe, a spokesman for the National Security Council.

Pressure to close Guantanamo has been building since a US Court ruled the system for prosecuting detainees was illegal.

Military judges have recently thrown out charges against two terror suspects under a new tribunal scheme.

The clamour has also been growing on this side of the Atlantic.

Home Secretary John Reid recently reiterated that the centre represented a legal "anomaly" because it holds enemy combatants who are not soldiers of states.

Last night Liberal Democrat Leader Menzies Campbell was quick to respond to the news, saying it was a "belated but welcome recognition" of the "political disaster" of Guantanamo.

But he also used the opportunity to hit out at the outgoing Tony Blair, saying he had not done enough to close the centre sooner.

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