There are many news articles about Nick Berg, the young American contractor who was beheaded by terrorists, but this story in the St. Petersburg Times has the most peculiar opening paragraph I’ve seen in some time:

On a warm evening in Baghdad's old Jewish quarter last month, I was taking photos in a crumbling building when I was literally pushed toward a Westerner with ivory skin and a red beard. He was lifting weights inside the Arnold Classic Gym. He wore black steel-toed boots as he grunted out exercises beneath dozens of portraits of Arnold Schwarzenegger.

First of all, I never even knew Baghdad had Jewish residents much less an old Jewish quarter. And an Arnold Classic Gym? Not only is it odd that the Iraqis have a gym dedicated to the governor of California but they put in in the Jewish part of town (perhaps the Iraqis think Schwarzenegger is an ancient Hebrew name).

Baghdad is one strange town.

(Hat tip:Wizbang)

Update: Alert reader David Marcoe points out an fascinating article on the "Arnold Classic Gym" and the man who founded it. He also found a website dedicated to "Babylonian Jewry."