Washington  - With its own deadline for closing Guantanamo less than four months away, the Obama administration is downplaying the significance of beating the clock to shutter the infamous prison facility.

United States officials have acknowledged recently that it might not be possible to meet the January 22 deadline that President Barack Obama set shortly after taking office, reflecting the complex legal and political problems that must first be resolved.

"It has proven more complicated than anticipated," Defence Secretary Robert Gates said in weekend interview with CNN, also telling ABC News that "it's going to be tough" to meet the deadline.

Obama's plan to close Guantanamo has been beset by problems, including how to conduct trials of some of the biggest terrorist suspects, including the admitted mastermind of the September 11, 2001, attacks, or what to do with dangerous suspects who might be acquitted at trial.

Further, there have been only a handful of countries who have been willing to resettle detainees. There are about 220 prisoners still held at the naval base on a remote corner of Cuba - and only about 20 have been resettled since Obama took office.

The president has faced stiff resistance in Congress to moving any of the detainees to prisons on US soil, complicating any potential decision to conduct trials in federal courts - a possibility the president has not ruled out.

Days after taking office in January, Obama set up a task force assigned to form a plan by July to shut down Guantanamo, but that deadline was postponed until later this year after the task force requested more time.

The task force has already concluded that there are more than 60 detainees eligible for release, but the administration still must find countries willing to take them.

Earlier this year, Congress denied Obama's request for 80 million dollars to begin closing Guantanamo, arguing the administration must first produce a plan. Obama has accused some lawmakers of using scare tactics to to sway the public into opposing transferring any detainees to maximum-security prisons on US soil.

White House spokesman Robert Gibbs dismissed the importance of the deadline, saying the administration is working as quickly as possible to close Guantanamo - even if the effort stretches past January 22.

"We're not focused on whether or not the deadline will or won't be met on a particular day," Gibbs said. "We're focused on ensuring that the facility is closed, and doing all that has to be done between now and the 22nd of January to make the most progress that we can that's possible."

The question still lingers: did the administration underestimate the difficulties in setting a deadline to close Guantanamo?

Gates said he still backs having a deadline because it helps build momentum to outlining a plan and eventually reaching that goal.

"I know enough from being around this town that if you don't put a deadline on something, you'll never move the bureaucracy," said Gates, a veteran of several administrations.

"If we find we can't get it done by that time, but we have a good plan, then you're in a position to say it's going to take us a little longer, but we are moving in the direction of implementing the policy that the president set." (dpa)