Three Navy SEALs involved in nabbing one of Iraq's most wanted terrorists are reportedly facing criminal charges related to his capture -- all because he claimed he had a bloody lip.

The SEALs took down Ahmed Hasim Abed, the alleged mastermind of a ghastly 2004 incident in which four American contractors who worked security for Blackwater USA, were murdered in Fallujah and two of the bodies were hung from a bridge over the Euphrates River.

But instead of being praised as heroes, the SEALs are all facing charges and have hired lawyers, FoxNews.com reported.

The three enlisted men, Petty Officers Matthew McCabe, Jonathan Keefe and Julio Huertas, got into hot water after Abed, whose military code name was "Objective Amber," said his captors had punched him.

To prove it, he showed off the bloody lip.

A legal source told Fox News that Abed made the complaint when he was in the hands of Iraqi authorities, causing him to be returned to American custody.

An official investigation was launched and led to the three SEALs.

McCabe was charged with assault, dereliction of performance of duty for willfully failing to safeguard a detainee as well as making a false official statement.

Keefe and Huertas were both charged with dereliction of performance of duty and making a false official statement.

Huertas was also charged with impeding an investigation.

All three have refused a non-judicial punishment -- called an admiral's mast -- and have requested courts-martial.

They will be arraigned on Dec. 7.

Lt. Col. Holly Silkman, spokeswoman for the special operations component of US Central Command, told Fox News the proceedings are scheduled for January.

Two officers and an enlisted sailor, who haven't been charged, have been identified as witnesses in the case.

One of them gave a handwritten statement to investigators, which was obtained by Fox News. In it, he described events in the hours after Abed was captured in September and held at the SEAL base at Camp Baharia.

The SEAL told investigators he had showered after the mission, gone to the kitchen and then decided to look in on the detainee.

"I gave the detainee a glance over and then left," he wrote. "I did not notice anything wrong with the detainee and he appeared in good health."

The murder of the Backwater security guards, whose bodies were also burned and dragged through the streets of Fallujah, sparked international outrage, especially after photos of the hanging corpses were beamed around the world.

[Edited by Dhampy, 11/25/2009 8:20:56 AM]

Soldiers in this war who have executed prisoners have been charged with less.

Does the judicial system take into account that they're not American and have never set foot on American Soil (Thank goodness), or do we all assume those who butcher, behead, blow up, and otherwise murder innocent people deserve anything even remotely resembling human rights, the kind of rights they had never afforded to others?

It's no wonder there are people who despise America. We try to police the world, and then punish our enforcers for doing what needs to be done, and punish our enforcers maliciously for falling short and merely breaking the skin of the organ-pile's lip.

The terrorists don't follow the conventions of modern warfare. They'll kill, torture, maim, and otherwise show off that they're inhuman savages who take their sadistic pleasure of spilling the blood of innocent people. Why should we afford them ANY rights other than a bullet to the brain?