Sacred Heart Church on Seven Mile Road is the church Saddam Hussein built.In 1980, Reverend Jacob Yasso flew to Baghdad and met with Hussein, who wanted to help Iraqi Christians who had come to America. That year, Hussein sent $1.5 million to cover the church’s debt and build a social hall and day-care centre.Last Friday, 450 parishioners gathered at Sacred Heart for a service. They prayed for Hussein’s overthrow. They also prayed for a miracle — that loved ones who disappeared in Iraq during the dictator’s reign would be found alive after the war. Father Yasso says more than half of the parish’s 1,200 families have missing loved ones in Iraq. The 70-year-old Iraqi-born priest says he decided Hussein was ‘‘evil’’ in the years following his meeting with the ruler, as newcomers to his church told their stories about the regime. ‘‘I shook his hand in 1980,’’ he says. ‘‘Now, he is the devil.’’Until recently, many of Detroit’s Chaldeans and Muslims feared speaking out against Saddam, frightened of reprisals against relatives in Iraq. Now, emboldened by the war, they’re more vocal. Several groups say they plan to seek a full accounting of their missing loved ones after the war. They envision open trials, input from US law groups and Internet databases cataloguing the missing. Reports that Saddam’s regime is putting up strong resistance haven’t dimmed the Chaldeans’ hopes. ‘‘Saddam will be out,’’ they say. ‘‘Maybe he’ll be elusive, like bin Laden, but he won’t remain in power.’’
