A new US code for the treatment of military prisoners drafted following the Abu Ghraib scandal has been criticised by human rights groups which say the it formalises the denial of Geneva Convention protections to a category of detainees.
Among those covered by the category are people held on suspicion of being members of the IRA.
Anyone held that is suspected of being a member of a group on the Pentagon's list of classified organisations can be classified as "enemy combatants" and denied certain rights afforded to Prisoners of War (PoWs) under the terms of the Geneva Convention.
The IRA is on the US list of proscribed organisations and also includes the Shining Path in Peru Sikh groups in India and the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka.
The draft document sets out for the first time a code for wartime detention operations for all branches of the US military, Air Force Lt Col John Skinner, a Pentagon spokesman, said.
It also formalises for the first time the military's entitlement to hold some detainees as "enemy combatants" - a classification not contained in the Geneva Conventions on the rights of prisoners of war.
The US maintains some detainees are not entitled to rights normally accorded to POWs. The document comes a year after the military was rocked by the Abu Ghraib scandal in which US forces physically abused and sexually humiliated prisoners at the prison on the outskirts of Baghdad. Other instances of abuse in Iraq and Afghanistan also were reported.
The document, prepared by the office of Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen Richard Myers, is being reviewed within the Pentagon and by the various branches of the military, and is expected to be finalised sometime later this year.
In establishing a detainee category of "enemy combatant", the document stated: "Although they do not fall under the provisions of the Geneva Convention, they are still entitled to be treated humanely, subject to military necessity, consistent with the principles of GC [Geneva Conventions]."
The document says "anyone detained" who is affiliated with organisations on a US government list of "terrorist" groups would be classified as an enemy combatant. The United States has designated as enemy combatants numerous detainees accused of ties to al Qaeda and the Taliban, hundreds of whom have been held at the US naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Human Rights Watch military affairs researcher John Sifton was critical saying the document specified that humane treatment of detainees could be limited by "military necessity". This ran contrary to international and US law and opened the door to possible abuse of detainees, he added.