Report: Bush won't close Guantanamo

WASHINGTON, Oct. 21 (UPI) -- U.S. President George Bush has decided not to close the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, prison and has never considered options to transfer its detainees, sources say.

Despite his stated desire to close the military prison camp where the United States houses suspected terrorists and "illegal enemy combatants," Bush hasn't given any consideration to options drawn up by State Department and U.S. Defense Department officials to do so, unnamed senior administration officials told The New York Times Tuesday.

A ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court in June found that the 250 detainees at Guantanamo have the right to make habeas corpus appeals, undercutting a core rationale for keeping the prison off U.S. soil. The ruling raised hopes it would spur Bush to close the facility, where human rights advocates say the United States has engaged in torture and other prisoner abuses banned by the Geneva Conventions.

Bush said several times since 2006 that it was his goal to close Guantanamo. Instead, sources say he has sided with his advisers who argued closing the prison would be too risky for the foreseeable future, The Times said.