(Analyst's note:  Extremely troubling that these men should be charged at all. Semper Fidelis)

Prosecutors have dropped lying charges against two Navy SEALs implicated in a detainee abuse case.

Petty Officer 1st Class Julio Huertas and Petty Officer 2nd Class Jonathan Keefe still face courts-martial for allegedly not protecting a reputed terrorist after his capture in Fallujah, Iraq. Huertas faces a second charge of impeding an investigation.

Charges that the men lied to an investigator were formally withdrawn Tuesday in response to earlier testimony from a Naval Criminal Investigative Service agent who said he did not read them their rights.

The SEALs and their lawyers met with prosecutors and the judge for the final time in Norfolk before the proceedings move to Camp Victory in Baghdad.

Lawyers for both SEALs requested the change so the men can face their accuser in court. Ahmed Hashim Abed is described as the mastermind of the murders of four American contractors in Fallujah in 2004. The SEALs helped capture him in September.

Keefe's trial is scheduled to start April 19; the case against Huertas will follow.

"I think the government has a very weak case," said Greg McCormack, Keefe's civilian attorney.

A third SEAL, Petty Officer 2nd Class Matthew McCabe, will be court-martialed next month in Norfolk. He allegedly punched Abed in the stomach while Keefe and Huertas were in the room.

The accused SEALs are assigned to SEAL Team 10 at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek in Virginia Beach.