David Frum is talking about the Hezbollah Hundreds again. And he's talking out of his ass. For example:

Only one thing was missing--the thin wire security strip that runs from top to bottom of a genuine US$100 bill. The money Hezbollah was passing was counterfeit, as should have been evident to anybody who studied the photographs with due care.

I assume he's talking about the one single picture that shows a $100 bill with light passing through it, which I discussed in a previous post

As I said before, I don't think the picuture is clear enough to be definitive.

He goes on to brag about how "SnappedShots.com, MyPetJawa and Charles Johnson's Little Green Footballs" pointed out the counterfeiting:

These [blog] sites magnified photographs and showed them to currency experts and detected irregularity after irregularity in the bills.

I'm calling bullshit. Other than the questionable "absence" of a security strip, there was nothing in any of the pictures I saw which indicated that those notes were counterfeit. American currency is subject to wide variations in ink color and seal placement, and all the notes I saw were within spec.

I'm putting out a challenge: if there's anyone who can point out any "irregularites" BESIDES the crispness of the notes, the security strip in that ONE picture, ink color, or seal placement, (all of which I address in the earlier post mentioned above) please bring it to my attention, I'll tell you whatever I can based on my considerable currency-handling experience.

And for heaven's sake, use direct URL's that work.

A final thought, because I want to be very clear on this point. I'm NOT saying these bills are genuine. I'm saying that I haven't seen enough evidence to declare them counterfeit. Unlike these so-called "currency experts" who are, in my opinion, simply taking advantage of the situation to gain a little ego-stroking from the media.

[Hat tip to reader Larwyn for pointing out Frum's article to me]

Posted by: Harvey at 06:08 AM | Comments (2) | Add Comment
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