How’s this for irony: Saddam Once Received Key to Detroit.

Saddam Hussein donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to a Detroit church and received a key to the city more than two decades ago, soon after he became president of Iraq.

Saddam’s bond with Detroit started in 1979, when the Rev. Jacob Yasso of Chaldean Sacred Heart congratulated Saddam on his presidency. In return, Yasso said, his church received $250,000.

“He was very kind person, very generous, very cooperative with the West. Lately, what’s happened, I don’t know,“ Yasso, 70, said Wednesday. “Money and power changed the person.“

Being dumped off the CIA payrolls probably didn’t help his attitude any either, I’m sure.

Yasso said that at the time, Saddam made donations to Chaldean churches around the world.

“He’s very kind to Christians,“ Yasso said.

A year later, Yasso traveled with about two dozen people to Baghdad as a guest of the Iraqi government, and they were invited to Saddam’s palace.

“We were received on the red carpet,“ Yasso said.

Yasso said he presented Saddam with the key to the city, courtesy of then-Mayor Coleman Young. Then, Yasso said, he got a surprise.

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

Saddam donated another $200,000.

And why not. It’s not like he hadn’t probably gotten it from us in the first place.

In the 1980s, Iraq and the United States were allied in their mistrust of Iran, which held hundreds of Americans hostage under the regime of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.

Yasso called Saddam an American puppet.

“The job the United States trusted to him is done; now he’s no good,“ he said.

What’s that? You say we’re just dealing with a mess of our own creation? How could that be?! The U.S. would never back a murderous dictator like Saddam! Surely you must be joking!

Kids, this is why it’s important to remember your history and why you should choose your friends wisely.