Gleaming new Chryslers and Mitsubishis fill the remodeled showroom of Bader al-Mulla and Bros. But upstairs the executive offices are still a charred shambles, torched by fleeing Iraqi troops 11 months ago. Anwar al-Mulla, on holiday in Europe when Iraq invaded Kuwait, returned at war's end to join his brothers in the monumental rebuilding task. Iraqis had seized 3,500 al-Mulla automobiles; the company's losses from fire and theft totaled $230 million. Al-Mulla's house, which served as the headquarters of Saddam Hussein's occupation overseer, was also devastated. His sole consolation: "They left the silverware and took the stainless steel."
These days, the...