Iacocca: Administration 'clueless bozos'

DETROIT, April 12 (UPI) -- Former Chrysler Chairman Lee Iacocca calls the Bush administration "a gang of clueless bozos" and attacks the U.S. auto industry in a new book.

"We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car," Iacocca and co-author Catherine Whitney write in the first page of "Where Have All the Leaders Gone?"

"I hardly recognize this country anymore," he writes.

In the book, Iacocca endorses higher federal fuel-economy standards, warns DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group could become a "shattered remnant" if sold, and suggests ways Detroit's automakers can turn their businesses around, The Detroit Free Press reports.

Iacocca also describes the 1998 morning when he learned of the Chrysler merger with Daimler-Benz as "the lowest low." The acquisition was announced May 7 and took place Nov. 12.

"I gave 15 years of my life to saving that company, and now I wondered if it was worth it," he writes.

The book, published by Charles Scribner's Sons, is due out Tuesday.