ADELAIDE, Australia -- Lawyers for suspected Australian terrorist David Hicks, who is being held by the U.S. military at Guantanamo Bay, on Tuesday dismissed as speculation a U.S. report he would plead guilty to war crimes in return for a firm release date.

Hicks' Australian lawyer Frank Camatta, described the report in the Wall Street Journal as surprising and unsubstantiated. "It's all speculation," he added.

Citing unnamed officials, the paper reported that Hicks and two British citizens were expected to plead guilty to war crimes and renounce terrorism in return for a firm release date.

Adelaide-born Hicks, a 28-year-old former poultry process worker, has been held by U.S. authorities without a specified charge since he was captured fighting with Taliban forces in Afghanistan in November 2001.

The United States has named Hicks as one of an initial group of six detainees at the camp in Cuba who will face a U.S. military tribunal, but no date has been set for a trial.

Asked about the report, Pentagon spokesman Air Force Major John Smith said no plea agreement had been discussed with any of the detainees because none had been charged or assigned defence counsel, but did not rule out a future plea agreement.

"I'm not going to argue and say that couldn't happen down the road," Smith said.

"Talking about those kind of things right now is putting the cart ahead of the horse. We're not looking to plea bargain with anyone until they have a defense counsel,' he told AFP.

Two alleged former bodyguards of Al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden were expected to be the first to face the U.S. military commissions, the Wall Street Journal said.

The Australian government said Hicks had admitted to training with Al-Qaeda, the terrorist network behind the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York and Washington.

Hicks' father Terry maintained his son was a Taliban fighter who received military training from Al-Qaeda, but had no terrorist training.

Hicks, together with British nationals Feroz Abbasi, 23, and Mozzam Begg, 35, were early last month named among six of the estimated 660 Guantanamo detainees designated as subject to trial by military commissions.

Following criticism by civil liberties groups and media in Britain and Australia, the United States gave its allies assurances that U.S. military prosecutors would not seek the death penalty against the three.