Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger will travel to Iraq early next week to visit U.S. troops for the first time as governor.

Schwarzenegger previously visited troops on United Service Organizations-sponsored tours in 2002 to Bosnia to preview his movie, "Collateral Damage," as well as in 2003 to Iraq to show "Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines."

"He's been wanting to visit the troops for the last few years but hasn't had the opportunity to," said Schwarzenegger communications director Matt David. "He thought now would be a good time to make a short trip over there."

The governor will be in the Middle East for a couple of days, David said. Asked whether Schwarzenegger planned to make any other stops, David said it was possible but that the governor had no further plans at this point. He said he could not provide more specifics for security reasons.

In 2004, Schwarzenegger visited Israel, Jordan and Germany in a four-day overseas tour. He met with political leaders and embassy workers in Israel, had lunch with King Abdullah in Jordan and then visited troops wounded in Iraq at Ramstein Air Base in Germany.

With the lieutenant governor seat vacant after John Garamendi won his congressional race last week, Senate President Pro Tem Darrell Steinberg is in line to serve as acting governor when Schwarzenegger leaves the state.

The California State Protocol Foundation, a nonprofit with ties to business groups, will pay for Schwarzenegger and staff to travel to Iraq, according to Aaron McLear, the governor's press secretary.

California Highway Patrol will provide security for the governor, McLear said. CHP cost estimates were not available Wednesday.

Schwarzenegger said Wednesday in a Veterans Day address in Los Angeles that nearly one in nine U.S. troops comes from California.

"Now, this is a day that I hold dear, because I treasure the liberty and the opportunity that I've found in this country," Schwarzenegger said. "As an immigrant you can probably appreciate it even more than when you're born here."

The governor served one year of obligatory service in the Austrian army as an 18-year-old. During that year, he went AWOL for several days to compete in the Mr. Europe bodybuilding championship in Stuttgart, Germany, according to the book "Fantastic: The Life of Arnold Schwarzenegger."

The Iraq trip comes during a lull in Capitol activity after lawmakers and Schwarzenegger reached a deal last week designed to shore up California's water supply in the coming decades.

Lawmakers are out of session, and some are traveling to conferences in places such as Hawaii. Schwarzenegger will head overseas despite criticizing lawmakers for leaving the state.

The governor told The Fresno Bee editorial board Monday they should stay in Sacramento to overhaul the state's tax structure "rather than go on trips all over the world which they will do in November."

The governor has not said much on Iraq this year, but in 2007 he parsed his own views on the war there. That year, he supported a timeline for troop withdrawal but also warned that a public authorization of withdrawal may not be wise because it could send a "signal to the enemy." He also supported President George W. Bush's increase of troops to Iraq that year.

Schwarzenegger vetoed Democratic-backed legislation in 2007 that would have placed an advisory measure on the ballot asking voters whether they wanted to withdraw troops from Iraq.

"The decision to engage in or withdraw troops from war is a federal issue, not a state issue," Schwarzenegger said in a statement at the time.

Call Kevin Yamamura, Bee Capitol Bureau, (916) 326-5548.