CAMP VICTORY, Iraq — Wearing a camouflage suit and tie, Stephen Colbert took his show to Baghdad to entertain U.S. soldiers in Iraq. For openers, President Obama appeared by video to thank the troops.

"You're welcome," the mock pundit answered.

"I wasn't talking to you," the president deadpanned.

To the roaring approval of hundreds of troops at Camp Victory, on the western edge of Baghdad, Colbert taped the first of four episodes of "The Colbert Report," in which he plays a pompous, blustering conservative TV host. The shows began airing yesterday on Comedy Central.

His first guest was Army Gen. Ray Odierno. When Obama and the U.S. commander suggested Colbert had to look like a soldier in order to be one, the general took an electric razor to Colbert's perfectly parted coif.

SINGER KENNY RANKIN DIES

LOS ANGELES — Kenny Rankin, a brilliant pop vocalist and highly regarded musician-songwriter whose stylings ranged from jazz to pop to the world music influences he picked up as a child in New York, has died of complications related to lung cancer, his record company announced yesterday. He was 69.

Rankin died Sunday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, a Mack Avenue Records spokesman said.

The musician, who wrote and recorded the pop standard "Peaceful," had been preparing to record an album of new material when he became ill a few weeks ago. Rankin also wrote "In The Name of Love" and "Haven't We Met"; his own "The Kenny Rankin Album" was recorded live in 1976.

ZIMBALIST AN HONORARY FBI SPECIAL AGENT

LOS ANGELES — Efrem Zimbalist Jr. finally got his badge.

The actor who portrayed cool and canny Inspector Lewis Erskine in the 1960s TV series "The F.B.I." was named an honorary special agent yesterday — the FBI's highest civilian honor.

The 91-year-old actor was presented with the badge by FBI Director Robert Mueller. He praised Zimbalist as an icon who inspired a generation of FBI agents. Zimbalist said he was humbled and called the agency America's "guardian."