U.S. Holds Keys to Iraqi’s Black Limo
Like a father laying down the law to his teen-age son, the U.S. government says that as long as Iraq occupies Kuwait, Saddam Hussein can’t use the car.
The Iraqi president’s black, bomb-proof, $300,000 limousine is resting on its bulletproof tires at a repair shop in the suburb of Livonia, where the Cadillac was sent to have its engine rebuilt, the Customs Service said.
It will be held there under authority of President Bush’s executive order freezing Iraqi assets in the United States.
“We have reason to believe that this car might have been used by Iraqi President Saddam Hussein,” said Donald Watson, a Customs official in Chicago. “In any case, he’s not going to get it back.”
The Customs Service titled its news release on the car, “Is Saddam Hussein Walking?”
The Cadillac has bomb-proof armor and tear gas dispensers.
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