Gates: U.S. 'stuck with' Guantanamo prison

WASHINGTON, May 26 (UPI) -- Defense Secretary Robert Gates has told a Senate committee the search for a way to close the Guantanamo detainee prison has stalled, The Washington Post said.

Gates said in 2007 he would look for ways to close the prison, but he told the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee last week his inter-agency search has been frustrated by what he called a "not-in-my-back-yard problem," the Post reported Monday.

Gates said the United States is prepared to send "about 70" detainees to their home countries but the governments involved "either won't accept them or we are concerned that the home government will let them loose once we return them."

The defense secretary told senators he has discussed the issue with members of Congress and Bush administration officials, including Attorney General Michael Mukasey, but he hasn't "found anybody who wants these terrorists to be placed in a prison in their home state."

As a consequence, he said "we are stuck" with the Guantanamo facility.