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In the name of Arnold

For the owner of Baghdad's only professional gym, California's governor is a hero of the highest order and - he hopes - a rescuer of his beleaguered businesses.

BAGHDAD - Dear Gov. Arnold. We love you. Send money.

As California governor, Arnold Schwarzenegger may be struggling with budget problems, but as a former movie star and Mr. Universe he's a very rich man.

Now an Iraqi who is one of the Terminator's biggest fans is appealing to his hero to help save Baghdad's only professional gym - a place called, fittingly enough, Arnold Classic.

It is here, inspired by photos of Schwarzenegger in every conceivable muscle-flexing pose, that Sabah Taleb Mehdi has coached some of the finest bodybuilders in the Middle East. The 2002 Mr. World. A runnerup to Mr. Asia. And even a regional tae kwon do champion, a young Iraqi woman who works out four times a week.

But the landlord wants to evict the gym, so Mehdi recently faxed a letter to Schwarzenegger asking for help in moving, even expanding.

The eviction notice came as "a devastation loss due to the great difficulties to find and afford the set up of a new gym," Mehdi wrote in clear, if imperfect, English. "To do so would mean a question of good equipment and weight machinery to keep up with the standards implied by the name "Arnold Schwarzenegger.'

"Our gym could even become a "hope chain' throughout Iraq, with the name "Arnold Classic Gym.' Please consider how you might help us to solve this pressing problem."

Schwarzenegger hasn't replied, but Mehdi doesn't think less of the man who has been his idol since 1973.

At 13, Mehdi was the proverbial 90-pound weakling. Then he saw a bodybuilding magazine with a picture of Schwarzenegger, showing the Atlas-like form that made him a five-time Mr. Universe and seven-time Mr. Olympia.

Mehdi plastered his room with photos of Schwarzenegger and began working out at a gym several days a week, paying the fees by doing construction jobs.

Within four years, Mehdi had pumped enough iron to join local competitions. His physique became so Arnold-like that he did his military service as a member of the army's bodybuilding team, sparing him from combat duty in the devastating Iran-Iraq war. He won the Mr. Asia title in Indonesia in 1981, followed by other titles in '85, '86 and '87.

Mehdi also began the prodigious correspondence that would get him in trouble with Saddam Hussein's regime. In addition to writing to Schwarzenegger and Franco Columbu, another Mr. Olympia, he corresponded with Ben Weider, head of the International Federation of Bodybuilders, based in Montreal. It was an era when all communications were monitored by Hussein's intelligence agents.

One day, "a group of men from General Security came and said, "Why you send a letter to a Jewish man?' " Mehdi recalls.

Fearing for his life, he decided to flee the country. He left behind his wife and three children; among the few things he took was a bulging scrapbook with photos and articles about his hero.

"I don't see my family for many years," says Mehdi, who began an odyssey throughout the Middle East and Southeast Asia. He opened a mechanic's shop in Malaysia, then moved to Singapore, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates.

In 2000, Mehdi returned to Iraq on a secret visit. He came back again a year later; this time he was ordered to stay and coach Iraq's national bodybuilding team. He bought a gym in Baghdad's old Jewish quarter.

"My dream," he says, "was to open a gym in the name of Arnold, but there was an order from the government not to name places for foreigners." So he called it Elegant Bodies House.

At the time, the bodybuilding team was under the sponsorship of Hussein's son Uday. A murderous psychopath, Uday also headed Iraq's Olympic Committee, whose Baghdad headquarters had been turned into a veritable torture chamber. Athletes who didn't perform up to snuff were dunked in sewage or made to crawl in wet concrete. Or worse.

"I don't want to talk about Uday," Mehdi says. "He was a very rude man."

Fortunately for him and them, the bodybuilders Mehdi coached were winners. He also coached the sons of some of Saddam Hussein's top lieutenants, including Ali Hassan al-Majid, the notorious "Chemical Ali" accused of gassing thousands of Kurds.

On April 9, 2003, Hussein's regime came to an end. A few weeks later, Mehdi renamed the gym Arnold Classic and hung a picture of his idol over the entrance.

He also renamed his 4-year-old son: Abdullah became Arnold.

Last summer, Schwarzenegger visited Baghdad but was unable to get to the gym. But Mehdi later received a blue folder with the state seal of California stamped in gold; inside was a letter from the new governor.

"Your accomplishments in the bodybuilding profession over the years are to be commended," Schwarzenegger wrote. "I am inspired by your story and I wish you and your family the very best."

Today, Hussein's crowd is long gone from the gym, replaced by young men trying to bulk up in hopes of landing high-paying jobs as security guards. So far, 135 have gone to work for coalition contractors.

For health reasons, the 43-year-old Mehdi no longer works out. His once sculpted form has spread and softened, and he now looks more like a sedentary accountant than a former Mr. Asia.

The gym, too, has seen better days. It is housed in a 1931 building that was home to a wealthy Jewish family, then became a four-star restaurant. (The stars are still over the doorway, next to Arnold's photo.)

Most of the equipment is more than 20 years old. The carpet is so badly worn, the concrete floor is exposed. When the power goes out, as it often does, the place becomes more like a steam bath.

A few weeks ago, the building's owner announced that she wanted the gym to move because her brother was coming back from Britain to open a business. Mehdi already had thought about getting a newer, larger place. But how to afford it?

Ah-nold.

So Mehdi faxed off his letter, then put it in the mail to Sacramento.

Somewhat surprisingly, he cares little for Schwarzenegger's movies. It is the man and the physique that have always enthralled him.

"I like the personality of Arnold," he says. "He made a great impression; he was a legendary man for bodybuilding."

Now that his hero has gone into politics, Mehdi has a suggestion. Since the Austrian-born Schwarzenegger can't run for U.S. president, why not try elsewhere?

Says Mehdi: "I think he would make a very good president of Iraq."

-- Susan Taylor Martin can be reached at susan@sptimes.com