The US policy of indefinite detentions of "illegal combatants" captured in the war on terrorism was thrown into question earlier this week when the US Supreme Court affirmed the right of detainees at Guantanamo to challenge their detention in US courts.

Pentagon spokesman Larry DiRita said no decision had been made on how to respond to the Supreme Court ruling, but said "everybody has a desire not to hold people that need not be held.

"It is conceivable that people who can be determined (to be) no longer needing to be held need not necessarily be part of a judicial process if we can make that determination short of a judicial process," he said.

DiRita noted that a panel had been formed under Navy Secretary Gordon England to do case-by-case reviews of detainees at Guantanamo to determine whether they no longer pose a threat and can be released.

"If there are people that can be released, after some due process of review that we've established, it's worth considering whether that's the right next thing to do, and we can do that and remain consistent with the Supreme Court ruling," he said.

The Supreme Court ruling raised the prospect of court challenges across the country on behalf of the estimated 595 prisoners at the maximum security detention center at a US naval base in Guantanamo.

The Los Angeles Times reported this week that one option under consideration by Pentagon and Justice Department lawyers was to move the prisoners from Guantanamo to a detention facility in the United States so that all proceedings could be consolidated in one place.

DiRita evaded a question about whether such a move was under consideration.

He said government lawyers were examining the rulings "to understand them, first and foremost, and see what the intent of the rulings was."

WAR.WIRE