I understand Saddam and Santa, but Jerome Bettis???

In 2006, when the Pittsburgh Steelers were in Detroit for Super Bowl XL, Jerome Bettis was given the key to the city by mayor Kwame Kilpatrick. The last recipient? Saddam Hussein in 1980. (Santa Claus was given the key in 1979)

You may ask, why Saddam Hussein??? Well, I'll tell you why. Well, actually the Associated Press will:

"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."

"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."

"Yasso said he presented Saddam with the key to the city, courtesy of then-Mayor Coleman Young."

Even more interesting than that...

Other than Sao Paulo, Brazil, Detroit is the largest Arab city outside of the Arab world. There are at least 200,000 Arab people, including 100,000 Syrian and Lebanese, 60,000 Iraqi-Chaldean, 25,000 Palistinian and Jordanian, 10,000 Yemeni, and 5,000 from other countries. You can read more here.