"I was here in 2003 and before I left I said 'I'll be back'," the Hollywood actor turned politician told almost 400 soldiers, mimicking his most famous line from the "Terminator" movies that made him a global star.

Schwarzenegger met troops at Camp Victory, a giant US military base near Baghdad airport, and spent two hours shaking hands and posing for pictures.

"The Terminator always keeps his promise," said the 62-year-old Republican governor of California, who was looking lean and tanned ahead of his return to the big screen next year.

He flew in from Israel, after attending a conference focused on the environment and Middle East security.

"I said to myself, well, it's obvious when you are that close to Iraq you go and visit your soldiers and the great men and women who are serving this great country," he said, encouraging them to stick to their tasks ahead of the planned drawdown of US troops in Iraq.

The 13-times world bodybuilding champion, who also starred in "Commando", "The Running Man", and "True Lies", before becoming governor of California in 2003, likened his training regime as a young man to that of soldiers at war.

"Don't ever get discouraged," he told troops who gathered to hear him speak as they ate their evening meal at a giant DFAC (dining facility) on the sprawling military base.

"I asked myself many times on the way up why am I doing five, six, seven hours of training every day? Why am I on this strict diet? But you know in the end you've got to fight through it and inspire each other because you are not here for nothing."

Captain Aaron Pulcifer, from 368 EASOG, an air support squadron based out of South Carolina, was one of the first to shake hands and grab a picture with Schwarzenegger.

"He is an outstanding role model, especially for the younger soldiers," said Pulcifer, 31, from Blackhills, South Dakota.

Major Chris Ferry, also of the air force, from Milford, New Hampshire, said the Terminator star's surprise visit was undoubtedly good for morale.

"No matter what your political views, it doesn't really matter with Arnold -- he's the Terminator," said Ferry, 42, who is two-and-a-half months into his third tour since the 2003 US-led invasion that ousted Saddam Hussein.

Schwarzenegger will return to the big screen next year when he stars alongside fellow action movie stars Sylvester Stallone and Dolph Lundgren in "The Expendables", directed by Stallone, and due for release in the summer.

As well as meeting troops, the actor shook hands with many of the several hundred mostly South Asian workers who serve meals to the US troops at Camp Victory.

"It was great, I've seen all his films," said Bishnu Bagalo, a 28-year-old dining manager who is due to return home to Nepal next month after five years of work in Iraq. "Everybody knows Arnold, and now I've met him."

President Barack Obama has pledged to withdraw all US combat troops from Iraq by August next year, with about 50,000 service personnel staying behind until they too are pulled out by the end of 2011.

There are currently 117,000 American soldiers serving in Iraq and Schwarzenegger said he wanted to see some of them again when he heads to the gym on Tuesday morning.

"Remember you've got to pump up those muscles," he said, before concluding his speech with another famous line from "Terminator 2: Judgment Day."

"Hasta la vista (see you later)."

earlier related report
France welcomes Iraqi leader for state visit
Paris (AFP) Nov 16, 2009 - France moved to raise both its profile and its profits in Iraq on Monday, welcoming President Jalal Talabani to Paris with a series of trade and aid deals ready for signing.

Talabani was treated to full ceremonial honours as he arrived at the Elysee palace for his first full state visit featuring a meeting with President Nicolas Sarkozy and a dinner given in his honour.

Iraq's red, white and black flag with its "Allahu Akbar" (God is Greater) inscription flew on the Champs Elysees, celebrating the improving ties between Paris and Baghdad.

Talabani said after an hour-long meeting with Sarkozy, whom he described as a "very great friend of Iraq and the Iraqi people," that relations between the two states were seeing a "renaissance."

The French and Iraqi defence and foreign ministers on Monday signed two accords, on cooperation in defence matters and in science and culture, at the Elysee, a French diplomat said.

Further accords were to be signed during the rest of the visit, the diplomat added.

The pomp and circumstance for Talabani in Paris came after Sarkozy paid a brief visit to Baghdad in February and confirmed a shift in France, the country that led international opposition to the US-led invasion in 2003.

"This state visit -- which is the first by an Iraqi leader -- is key," said Boris Boillon, France's new 39-year-old Arabic-speaking ambassador to Baghdad.

"This is a country that is rebuilding. Some 600 billion dollars will be spent on reconstruction," said Boillon, who took up his post two months ago.

"It has the world's third largest oil reserves, with production set to increase from two million barrels a day to eight or 10 million in the coming years.

"There is a huge challenge from reconstruction of the entire country. France wants to be on the forefront," he told RTL radio.

Two economic accords will be signed during the visit to allow the French state development agency AFD to open up offices in Iraq and to roll out poverty-fighting programmes.

Another agreement will open the door to the Coface export-credit agency to underwrite risks for French companies clinching contracts in Iraq.

France will also offer expertise to help the Iraqi national museum in Baghdad recover its collection, which was damaged and partially looted after the 2003 invasion.

A separate agreement will touch on developing agriculture in Iraq.

It is the first time that an Iraqi leader has been welcomed for a state visit to France. Saddam Hussein was never given the honour despite his strong ties with Paris.

Accompanied by his wife Hero Ibrahim Ahmad, the 75-year-old Iraqi president will lay a wreath on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier at the Arc de Triomphe on Tuesday and be feted by Paris Mayor Bertrand Delanoe, a prominent member of the Socialist opposition.

After meeting with lawmakers from both houses of parliament, Talabani will be the guest of honour at a dinner Tuesday evening hosted by Prime Minister Francois Fillon, who led a business delegation to Iraq in July.

On Wednesday, the Iraqi leader will meet with France's Medef business lobby and hold talks with leading executives.

Talabani, a leader from Iraq's Kurdish minority, started his visit to France on Monday with a visit to the Louvre museum.

Under former president Jacques Chirac, France opposed the decision by the United States to invade Iraq and relations have at times been tense with the new leadership in Baghdad.

But since Sarkozy took power in 2007 there have been several exchanges of visits between the two capitals as France attempts to return to its status of Iraq's main business partner.

"On the Iraqi side, a page has been turned, they have a good image of French businesses," said Denis Bauchard, a Middle East expert at the French Institute for International Relations.

"The Americans are doing all they can to get a return on their investment, they are insistent, but the Iraqis want to avoid a situation in which they have only one overbearing partner."

Baghdad has already ordered 25 French-built military helicopters and the French oil giant Total hopes to sign major new contracts to explore and drill Iraq's currently underdeveloped oil wealth.

Boillon said French companies seeking a bigger stake in Iraq would find security has significantly improved. About 10 people die each day from bombings and attacks, down from 60 to 100 deaths a day between 2004 and 2008, said the envoy.

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