Axelrod declines to provide Gitmo closure timeline

White House Senior Adviser David Axelrod said Sunday the administration expects to shutter Guantanamo Bay "sooner rather than later," but he declined to provide any timeline for its closure.

Even as CNN's Candy Crowley pressed Axelrod this morning on "State of the Union" to say whether the military prison would cease housing prisoners this month or this year, he repeated: "I'm not going to put a timeline on it."

However, he added: "we've made great progress, in terms of reducing the number of people there..."

"I believe we'll get there, but its complicated, and we're going to work through it," he said.

President Barack Obama has long touted Gitmo's closure as a top administration priority, initially promising in 2009 that the military prison would be closed by the year's end.

But the White House clearly overshot that deadline, triggering criticism from liberal voters, especially, who have long clamored for the closure of Gitmo. The Obama administration has since promised to close the camp as soon as possible, but it remains unclear when that might occur.

Primarily obstructing its closure is the debate over where to house its remaining prisoners, including the five suspected 9/11 terrorists. Previous attempts to relocate and try those alleged terrorists domestically met fierce political blowback, forcing the White House to reconsider its stance.

But Axelrod said Sunday that the five 9/11 suspects were not the only reason the prison remains open.

"I'm no going to make that link; obviously there are complicated issues involved," he said, later adding, "I expect sooner rather than later we'll resolve some of those issues."

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