***UPDATE***
Sgt. Cardona sentenced to "90 days hard labor and a reduction in rank". To be clear, my initial and continued outrage over this is not that he faced up to three and a half years, it's the fact that he was charged at all, simply for letting a dog bark. Priorities here people.

We know there were abuses at Abu Ghraib and I believe the number of those implicted and punished is around 10 right now, but this is just ridiculous. I also always have to point out that as outrageous at the abuses at the prison may have been, I don't think we've seen anything that amounts to "torture", and certainly not in this case.

AP via Fayetteville Observer

A military jury on Thursday convicted an Army dog handler of using his animal to torment a prisoner at Abu Ghraib.

Sgt. Santos A. Cardona, based at Fort Bragg, N.C., is the 11th soldier convicted of crimes stemming from the abuse of inmates at the prison in late 2003 and early 2004.

Cardona, 32, of Fullerton, Calif., was convicted of dereliction of duty and aggravated assault for allowing his dog to bark within inches of a prisoner's face.

But the panel of four officers and three enlisted soldiers acquitted Cardona of some of the most serious charges he faced, including unlawfully having his dog bite an inmate and conspiring with dog handler to frighten prisoners into soiling themselves.

Cardona, a 12 1/2-year veteran, stood at attention in his green dress uniform as the verdict was read. He faces a maximum penalty of 3 1/2 years.

A sentencing hearing was scheduled to begin later Thursday.

You read that right.... A maximum penalty of 3 1/2 years for allowing the dog to bark near a prisoner's face.