The US state department today rejected the calls from the British government to close Guantanamo Bay in the near future, saying that it is a necessary evil in the War on Terror.

The response followed a strongly-worded call from Lord Goldsmith, the Attorney-General, to close the camp in Cuba which he described as a symbol of injustice.

Sean McCormack, spokesman for the State Department, said that although he would like "nothing better" than to shut the camp down, it was still essential to house a number of "dangerous people".

Mr McCormack said that the US was not prepared to release prisoners who could go on to commit acts of terrorism.

He said: "The fact of the matter is that the people there are dangerous people. One thing we don’t want to do is release people now who might at some point in the future end up on the battlefield facing our troops or somebody else’s troops, or committing acts of terrorism against civilians."

Lord Goldsmith, the Government's most senior legal adviser, launched the most powerful attack yet on the military prison from a British minister.

In a speech to a terrorism conference he said: "It is time, in my view, that it should close," he said. "Not only would it, in my personal opinion, be right to close Guantanamo as a matter of principle, I believe it would also help to remove what has become a symbol to many – right or wrong – of injustice, told the London-based Royal United Services Institute.

"The historic tradition of the United States as a beacon of freedom, liberty and of justice deserves the removal of this symbol."

The Pentagon, however, dismissed this suggestion while its War on Terror is ongoing.

Bryan Whitman, deputy director of the Office of Detainee Affairs, said the camp would not be closed as long as the detainees held there represented a threat to the US and its allies.

"The dangerous detainees at Guantanamo include terrorist trainers, bomb makers and would-be suicide bombers, many who have vowed to return the fight," he said.

"I understand that in Europe and the United Kingdom the rallying cry is essentially 'try them or release them'," he told reporters in London.

"I would suggest that that fails to acknowledge the fact that the law of war is the governing body and it would be silly for us to attempt to try every foot soldier in al-Qaeda.

"Just as in World War II we didn’t try every soldier who may have committed crimes during the broader conflict, historically only a small number of those who commit the most egregious actions are held accountable, merely because of judicial economy as for the sake of anything else."

Authorities were continuing to obtain valuable intelligence from the detainees which had prevented further terrorist attacks, he added.

The camp which holds 490 detainees was opened on the south-eastern coast of Cuba in January 2002. Many of the men held at the facility have been there for three years without trial. The US has denied that detainees who are being held on suspicion of involvement in terrorism have been mistreated.

Amnesty International, which has called the camp "the gulag of our times" welcomed Lord Goldsmith’s comments.

The last four British citizens held at the camp were release without charge last January.

Last week, the High Court ruled that the British government was not obliged to lobby for the release of two British residents, who are not full citizens, detained at the camp.

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