Why Saddam Hussein Got the Key to the City of Detroit

Detroit — When you think of Detroit heroes, names like Elmo or Saddam Hussein probably aren’t the first to come to mind. Yet, surprisingly, both have received the City of Detroit’s highest honor: the Key to the City.

While Saddam Hussein’s relationship with his own citizens was extremely tumultuous, the Iraqi dictator was known during the 1980s for his generosity toward Chaldean Christian communities, especially in the U.S. As a religious minority in the predominantly Muslim Middle East, many Chaldeans benefited from his government’s support and patronage.

At the time, U.S. foreign policy favored Saddam’s rule in Iraq heavily. As a token of his appreciation, Hussein supported displaced Iraqi Christians in the U.S.

After Saddam won the Iraqi presidency in 1979, local Detroit Catholic priest Rev. Jacob Yasso of Sacred Heart Chaldean Catholic Church on 7 Mile Road wrote to congratulate him. In response, Saddam immediately donated $250,000 to the church.

“He was [a] very kind person, very generous, very cooperative with the West,” Yasso told AP News.

“He's very kind to Christians."

This act of kindness caught the attention of Detroit Mayor Coleman Young, who, encouraged by the large Chaldean Christian community in Detroit, commissioned Father Yasso to travel to Baghdad to present the newly elected President Hussein with the Key to the City of Detroit.

"We were received on the red carpet,” stated Fr. Yasso.

Yasso explains that at the time, Saddam was all for the red, white, and blue.

“Saddam was 100% American then,” said Yasso.

“He arranged for the government to pay for my trip and [for me to] stay at the best hotel in Baghdad.”

Saddam wasn’t done yet.

After receiving the Detroit ambassadors and the Keys to the City, Hussein asked Fr. Yasso if the church was in any debt.

“He said, ‘I heard there was a debt on your church. How much is it?’” said Yasso.

After informing the ruler of the $200,000 mortgage, the Iraqi president wrote another check to cover the full amount. The Chaldean parish, which in 2003 had boasted close to 1,200 families, was just bailed out by one of history’s most infamous dictators.

As the leader became increasingly totalitarian, Fr. Yasso would later say that “money and power changed the person.”

Shortly after the interaction, Saddam Hussein would go on to implement one of the most significant totalitarian agendas in modern history. Ruling with an iron fist, Hussein relied on a secret police force to threaten, intimidate, and eliminate political rivals, ultimately transforming Iraq’s political system into a repressive one-party state. Hussein became the first leader to use chemical weapons against his own people during the 1980s.

While the U.S. would eventually wage a war to topple the dictator, one can only imagine if Hussein thought of that small Detroit Church as his country’s borders began to close in upon him.

When asked about the fate of the key, which Saddam had been gifted by Detroit, Yasso speculated that the U.S. military could hold the answers.

“Ask the U.S. troops,” joked Yasso. “Maybe they’ve recovered it in one of his palaces.”

Whatever became of that Key to the City, its story is a bizarre reminder of how quickly political relationships can change. Saddam Hussein went from a celebrated Detroit honoree to one of America’s most notorious enemies within a few decades. Hopefully, Detroit’s other unlikely key-holder, Elmo, has better luck.