Axelrod: U.S. may not hit Gitmo deadline

The detention facility at Guantanamo Bay probably won't by closed by the deadline established by President Barack Obama, a senior White House aide conceded Sunday.

White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod said that while the deadline for shuttering the prison will be substantially met, the administration may not accomplish its goal by the January 22nd deadline.

"We believe we're going to substantially meet the deadline," Axelrod said during an appearance on CNN. "We may not hit it on the date, but we will close Guantanamo, and we're making good progress toward doing that. I'm not going to but a deadline on it, but we're going to get it done. We're moving toward getting it done, in all the different dimensions that are necessary."

The president ordered the closing of the facility for suspected terrorists after his inauguration last year in an executive order. The order established a one year timeline for closing the facility, a deadline that has seemed more unlikely to be met as the year has worn on.

The administration has eyed federal prisons on U.S. soil for housing the detainees, including idled federal prisons in Kansas and Michigan, and, most recently, Illinois.

Axelrod defended the administration's actions on prosecuting terror detainees, including its decision this week to move alleged 9/11 mastermind Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and other terror suspects to New York for trial in civilian court.

"We believe that these folks should be tried in New York City near where their heinous acts were conducted in full view in our court system," the senior adviser said. "We feel very strongly that justice will be done here."

---