Obama to order Guantanamo prison closed: adviser

By Jeff Mason

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - President-elect Barack Obama will issue an executive order, probably within his first week in office, to close the prison at the U.S. Naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, an Obama transition adviser said on Monday.

Despite such an order, the prison is unlikely to be shut right away until a solution is found on where to house its occupants.

Obama said repeatedly during his campaign for the White House that the prison for suspected terrorists, a global symbol of U.S. detainee abuses, had to go.

"There is going to be an executive order on closing down Guantanamo," the adviser told Reuters, adding the move would probably be made during Obama's first several days in office.

The move, which will likely be welcomed by allies around the world, would be a largely symbolic one. Obama himself said in an interview broadcast on Sunday that closing the facility would take some time.

"(It) is more difficult than I think a lot of people realize," he said on the ABC television network.

"You have a bunch of folks that have been detained, many of whom may be very dangerous who have not been put on trial...and some of the evidence against them may be tainted even though it's true."

But Obama said closure was non-negotiable for him.