Navy SEALs Face Assault Charges for Capturing Most-Wanted Terrorist

March 31, 2004: Iraqis chant anti-American slogans as the charred and mutilated bodies of U.S. contractors hang from a bridge over the Euphrates River in Fallujah, Iraq.

Is this any way to fight a war?

Navy SEALs have secretly captured one of the most wanted terrorists in Iraq — the alleged mastermind of the murder and mutilation of four Blackwater USA security guards in Fallujah in 2004. And three of the SEALs who captured him are now facing criminal charges, sources told FoxNews.com.

The three, all members of the Navy's elite commando unit, have refused non-judicial punishment — called an admiral's mast — and have requested a trial by court-martial.

Ahmed Hashim Abed, whom the military code-named "Objective Amber," told investigators he was punched by his captors — and he had the bloody lip to prove it.

Now, instead of being lauded for bringing to justice a high-value target, three of the SEAL commandos, all enlisted, face assault charges and have retained lawyers.

I am the first one to say that our troops should behave honorably. Rapes, mutilations, civilian massacres and the like are simply not acceptable and should be punished to the full extent of the UCMJ.

What we have here, however, is a bloody lip of a man responsible for not only murder, but the hideous mutilation of the murdered. And these SEALs are being Court Martialed for this monster's bloody lip?

This is a ridiculous and disproportionate reaction on the part of the Navy.