WASHINGTON, March 23 (Reuters) - The U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay will likely remain open for the rest of George W. Bush's presidency because it will take time to conduct the legal proceedings of the detainees there, the White House said on Friday.

Bush's term runs out in January 2009. Bush has stated publicly that he would like to see the facility closed, but now it appears unlikely to happen on his watch.

The United States has declared its intention to try 60 to 80 of the 385 foreign captives held at Guantanamo, including 14 "high-value" prisoners sent there in September from secret CIA prisons.

White House spokesman Tony Snow it was "highly unlikely that you can dispense with all those cases" before Bush leaves office.

U.S. authorities sent suspects picked up in the post-Sept. 11 war on terrorism to military custody at Guantanamo, instead of putting them into the normal American court process.

Human rights groups have long demanded that the detention facility be shut down. Two U.S. senators who visited the camp last week said allegations of mistreatment made by Sept. 11 suspect Khalid Sheikh Mohammed should be investigated.

Snow, at his daily briefing for reporters, acknowledged that new Defense Secretary Robert Gates had concerns about keeping the facility open when he took over the job from Donald Rumsfeld.

He expressed his opinion to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who argued against closing the prison and moving the detainees to the United States.

"So whatever ideas the secretary of defense had coming in, when they had a discussion, he (Gates) deferred to the legal opinion of the attorney general," Snow said.

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