LOS ANGELES — Stephen Colbert is taking his Comedy Central show to the Persian Gulf.

"The Colbert Report" will tape four shows performed for troops as part of a USO tour.

Colbert, who announced the trip on Tuesday's show, said in a statement that he couldn't reveal his exact overseas destination, adding, "the fact that I can't tell you where I'm going should tell you where I'm going."

Dates and the location of Colbert's Persian Gulf visit were withheld for security reasons at the USO's request.

KEACH SUFFERS 'VERY MILD STROKE'

LOS ANGELES — A spokesman for Stacy Keach says the actor is recovering after a mild stroke.

Publicist Dick Guttman said yesterday the 67-year-old "experienced a very mild stroke with no impairment whatsoever of his motor or speech abilities. He remains in a Los Angeles hospital for observation and routine precautionary procedures."

No further details were provided.

Keach had been starring as Richard Nixon in the Center Theater Group's production of "Frost/Nixon" at the Ahmanson Theatre.

DREYFUSS DEFENDS OLD BATTLEFIELDS

WASHINGTON — Oscar-winner Richard Dreyfuss visited the nation's capital yesterday to call attention to the most endangered Civil War battlefields.

The actor joined the Civil War Preservation Trust as the group released its annual report on 10 battlefields it says are deteriorating from neglect, land development and other factors.

At a news conference, Dreyfuss said his interest in preserving Civil War battlefields grew out of his love for history and the significance of the war.

"We are the consequences of that war and the more we know about our past, the better," said Dreyfuss, who portrayed Vice President Dick Cheney in Oliver Stone's "W," and won an Academy Award for "The Goodbye Girl."

BALTIMORE WANTS ZAPPA'S HEAD

BALTIMORE — Baltimore's public art commission hopes to erect a bust of eccentric rocker Frank Zappa in a neighborhood known for its bohemian vibe.

Yesterday, the commission formally endorsed placing the bust in the quirky Fells Point community. The neighborhood is a major tourist draw known for its nightlife.

The bust is a gift from Zappa fans in Lithuania and is a replica of one in Vilnius, Lithuania's capital. Zappa was born in Baltimore.

WEST CHARGED IN PAPARAZZO ATTACK

LOS ANGELES — Kanye West faces more than just a "Love Lockdown."

Los Angeles city prosecutors have charged the rapper with misdemeanor battery, grand theft and vandalism over the videotaped destruction of a paparazzo's camera.

West was arrested at Los Angeles International Airport days after performing at the MTV Video Music Awards in September. The celebrity gossip site TMZ shot video that showed West breaking the flash of a photographer's camera inside a terminal, and his manager breaking the camera itself and accosting TMZ's videographer.

West faces 2 1/2 years in jail if convicted.