DISTURBING

An assailant stabbed and badly wounded an American army officer inside the Baghdad compound of Iraq's U.S.-led administration, a U.S. spokesman said Monday.

Dan Senor, chief spokesman of the Coalition Provisional Authority (CPA), said the officer had been stabbed Saturday evening while walking in the "Green Zone," a sprawling, heavily guarded area on the west bank of the Tigris River.

"To my knowledge this was the first attack of its kind inside the Green Zone. We do not know at this point whether or not the attacker was Iraqi or an American," Senor said.

"The victim suffered serious stab wounds to his torso, head and neck," Senor said, adding that the officer, unconscious immediately after the attack, had been flown Sunday to a U.S. medical facility in Germany, where he was in stable condition.

However, I've learned that there doesn't seem to be a universal definition of "the Green Zone". For some it seems to mean that area where Mr. Bremer has his headquarters. For others the use of the term indicates a larger and more inclusive area. No way to tell from this story which they mean.

If it is in the former, the potential for a politically significant strike against Mr. Bremer certainly exists.