"Terminator" pays lightning Independence Day visit with US troops in Iraq

BAGHDAD (AFP) Jul 04, 2003
Action film muscleman Arnold Schwarzenegger on Friday paid a lightning visit to Baghdad for US Independence Day to cheer American troops deployed in Iraq, the US military said.

"He came in to see the troops at Camp Victory off Highway Eight on the Baghdad airport road, but he has already left," Specialist Nicole Thompson told AFP.

Thompson said that before coming to Baghdad, Schwarzenegger visited US troops based in Kuwait and attended a screening of his new movie "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines."

Schwarzenegger was to carry a copy of his film on the Iraq visit to show the troops, his agent Jill Eisenstadt said Thursday.

American troops in Iraq vowed to hold "grand style" US Independence Day celebrations in Baghdad and the northern city of Mosul with concerts, barbecue feasts and surprise "morale-boosting" events.

At Baghdad Airport, troops were to be treated to a "burger giveaway" for lunch, said Thompson.

The celebrations to boost troop morale come at a time of growing US public concern over the rising number of US casualties in Iraq and how long the troops will be committed here.

TERRA.WIRE