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FORT MEADE, Md. (AP) ― A military court Tuesday acquitted an Army officer of charges that he failed to control U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq, but it found him guilty of disobeying an order.

Lt. Col. Steven L. Jordan was the only officer and the last of 12 defendants to go to trial in the 2003 Abu Ghraib detainee abuse scandal that embarrassed the Pentagon and shocked the Muslim world.

The allegations at the U.S.-run prison came to light with the release of pictures of U.S. soldiers smiling while detainees often naked, were held in painful and humiliating positions at the prison. Jordan, 51, never appeared in the inflammatory photos but he was accused of fostering a climate conducive to abuse.

The jury of nine colonels and one brigadier general deliberate for about seven hours before issuing its verdicts Tuesday.

It acquitted Jordan of three counts: cruelty and maltreatment for subjecting detainees to forced nudity and intimidation by dogs; dereliction of a duty to properly train and supervise soldiers in humane interrogation rules; and failing to obey a lawful general order by ordering dogs used for interrogations without higher approval.

Jordan was found guilty of one: disobeying a general's order not to talk to others about the investigation into the abuse.

Jordan, a reservist from Fredericksburg, Va., faces a maximum sentence of five years. The court planned to begin the sentencing hearing Tuesday afternoon.

The case went to the jurors Monday after Jordan's lawyer took aim at one of the government's top witnesses, saying Maj. Donald Reese falsely testified that Jordan condoned prisoner nudity as an interrogation technique. Reese commanded the 372 Military Police Company in Iraq.

"Major Reese is not telling the truth," defense attorney Maj. Kris Poppe said, citing contradictory testimony by others. "To deflect blame is a time-honored tradition, and that's what he did."

Earlier Monday, a prosecutor said Jordan is not being court-martialed for what he did during his brief assignment as director of the Abu Ghraib interrogation center - but for what he didn't do.

"It's about what he divorced himself from doing," Lt. Col. John P. Tracy told the panel of nine colonels and one brigadier general. "He didn't train. He didn't supervise."

Tracy reminded the panel repeatedly that Jordan was the senior officer at Abu Ghraib in September and October 2003, when witnesses said they saw detainees naked and handcuffed in their cells.

Tracy also said Jordan was the senior officer inside a prison cellblock on Nov. 24, 2003, during at least part of an episode that ended with a dog being brought in to intimidate a detainee during questioning.

The defense contended that Jordan had no obligation "to train, supervise and ensure compliance by soldiers under his control" in following interrogation rules requiring humane treatment of prisoners.

The most serious charge Jordan faces is disobeying an order not to discuss an Abu Ghraib investigation with others, an offense punishable by up to five years in prison.

Jordan also is charged with failing to obey a regulation by ordering dogs to be used for interrogations without higher approval, punishable by up to two years; cruelty and maltreatment for allegedly subjecting detainees to forced nudity and intimidation by dogs, punishable by up to one year; and dereliction of a duty to properly train and supervise soldiers in interrogation rules, punishable by up to six months.

Jordan is the only officer among the 12 people charged in the scandal, and the last to go to trial. Eleven enlisted soldiers have been convicted of crimes, with the longest sentence, 10 years, given to former Cpl. Charles Graner Jr., of Uniontown, Pa., in January 2005.

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