THE commander of a US military intelligence brigade has been reprimanded and fined for dereliction of duty for authorising the use of dogs in the interrogation of a prisoner at Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

No decision has been made yet whether to relieve Colonel Thomas Pappas of command of the 205th Military Intelligence Brigade despite the verdict, an official said in Washington.

Pappas was responsible for the military intelligence personnel who conducted interrogations at the Iraqi prison during late 2003 and early 2004 when American guards were photographed abusing and sexually humiliating prisoners.

Military police guards implicated in the scandal have said interrogators encouraged them to soften up the inmates. Newspaper photographs printed around the world showed US guards holding unmuzzled army dogs close to reeling prisoners.

Major General Bennie Williams yesterday found Pappas guilty of two counts of dereliction of duty at the end of a hearing at Kaiserslautern, Germany in which the colonel presented evidence in his defence, the officials said.

"The action alleged that Colonel Pappas failed to ensure that subordinates were adequately informed of, trained upon and supervised in the application of interrogation procedures," according to an army summary.

"He was also alleged to have failed to obtain the approval of superior commanders before authorising a non-sanctioned interrogation technique, specifically, the presence of military working dogs during the questioning of a detainee," it said.

Maj-Gen Williams "found that Colonel Pappas had committed both offences as alleged".

Pappas was given a written reprimand, which was placed in his permanent file, and made to forfeit $US4000 ($5150) a month in pay for two months as punishment.

The decision came just days after the US Army demoted Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, and relieved her as commander of the prison.