A Lot of the Muscle Flexing in Baghdad Isn't Political
Mr. Schwarzenegger may find himself politically embattled these days in his home state, but here he is still a major draw. Along Saddoun Street, one of the capital's main arteries, Mr. Talib has hung a black-and-white billboard showing a young Mr. Schwarzenegger in a formidable bicep-flexing pose.
"The first inspiration I had for bodybuilding was Arnold," Mr. Talib, a squat man built like a bulldozer, said in his back-room office as metal weights clanked outside. "Now I aspire to improve the sport in Iraq." Mr. Talib is in regular e-mail contact with Governor Schwarzenegger's office in Sacramento, apprising officials there of the state of bodybuilding in Iraq. The Iraqi Olympic Committee recently appointed him as an adviser.
Arnold Classic now has about 400 people coming in each month, Mr. Talib said. There are special hours for women. Because the gym is near several foreigners' compounds and hotels, a few of those who work out there are Westerners.
One regular lifter was Nicholas Berg, the American businessman who was kidnapped and beheaded last year by Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the Jordanian militant. (Mr. Zarqawi also has a penchant for weight lifting).
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/30/international/middleeast/30gym.html------------------------------------------------
How cool Nick Berg liked to work out at the gym and so does Zarqawi, and Iraqis like the Gropenfuror. Big News, thanks NY Times for informing the sheeple on Iraq.