Hotel Queen Tells Hussein That It’s Time to Check Out
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NEW YORK — Hotel queen Leona Helmsley took out a full-page ad in the New York Times today to berate Iraqi President Saddam Hussein for calling his hostages “guests” and to appeal to him to let them go.
“I know something about how one is supposed to treat guests, Mr. Hussein,” said Helmsley, who is fighting a four-year sentence to federal prison for tax fraud.
“In your bizarre world where detention centers have become hotels and hostages have become guests, I can make one recommendation that I have never made in all the years I have been welcoming people: Mr. Hussein, it is time to check out,” the ad said.
Helmsley, wife of real estate mogul Harry Helmsley, was convicted in federal court Aug. 30, 1989, on charges of cheating on millions of dollars in income taxes. She was sentenced to four years in prison and fined $7.1 million. Her attorneys are appealing.
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