Hezbollah's Counterfeit Generosity: Counterfeit Dollars in Lebanon?

This past week a considerable number of stories, complete with photos, have appeared in the MSM relating to Hezbollah indemnifying the Lebanese for the damage done to their property by the war with Israel started by Hezbollah. Wads of fresh $100 bills passed from Hezbollah to those poor Lebanese who suffered damage or injury during the war.

But with the stories, and the pictures, questions have now arisen about the "charitable" motives, and methods, of the Hezbollah terrorists.

One of the most prominent and influential members of the Hizballah terrorist organization, along with two of his companies, was designated by the Treasury Department today under Executive Order 13224. Assad Ahmad Barakat has close ties with Hizballah leadership and has worked closely with numerous Islamic extremists and suspected Hizballah associates in South America's tri-border area (TBA), made up of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina. . . .

Barakat has also been involved in a counterfeiting ring that distributes fake U.S. dollars and generates cash to fund Hizballah operations. As of early 2001, Barakat was one of two individuals reportedly in charge of distribution and sale of the counterfeit currency in the TBA.

In case anyone misses the connections, on a personal level, Hezbollah associate Assad Ahmad Barakat is a known forger of US currency who has been involved in large scale forgery and distribution operations in the past.

Meanwhile, on a larger scale, North Korea, which furnishes all manner of advanced weaponry to Hezbollah’s patron, Iran, is also know to engage in the counterfeiting and distribution of bogus US currency.

Click on the link above, check the photos for yourself, and see if you can spot any real US currency among all that Hezbollah largesse.

As a US GAO Report of February 27, 1996 makes clear, a number of countries have been counterfeiting US currency with varying degrees of success, including Syria, Iran, and, most famously, North Korea. The same North Korea that sells advanced weaponry to Iran. The same Iran that passes advanced weaponry to its unofficial military arm, Hezbollah thru Syria. The same Syrian that is a conduit for Syrian and Iranian arms, munitions, and apparently, counterfeit US currency to Hezbollah. Yes, that same Hezbollah.

Back in the 1970s, long before the revolution that would eventually topple him from power, the Shah of Iran was one of America's best friends (he was a dictator who brutally repressed his people, but he was anti-communist, and that made him OK in our book). Wanting to help out a good friend, the United States government agreed to sell Iran the very same intaglio presses used to print American currency so that the Shah could print his own high quality money for his country. Soon enough, the Shah was the proud owner of some of the best money printing machines in the world, and beautiful Iranian Rials proceeded to flow off the presses.

All things must come to an end, and the Shah was forced to flee Iran in 1979 when the Ayatollah Khomeini's rebellion brought theocratic rule to Iran. Everyone reading this undoubtedly knows the terrible events that followed: students took American embassy workers hostage for over a year as Iran declared America to be the "Great Satan," while evidence of US complicity in the Shah's oppression of his people became obvious, leading to a break in relations between the two countries that continues to worsen to this day.

During the early 90s, counterfeit $100 bills began to flood the Mideast, eventually spreading around the world. Known as "superbills" or "superdollars" by the US Treasury due to the astounding quality of the forgeries, these $100 bills became a tremendous headache not only for the US and its economy, but also for people all over the world that depend on the surety of American money. Several culprits have been suggested as responsible for the superbills, including North Korea and Syria, but many observers think the real culprit is the most obvious suspect: an Iranian government deeply hostile to the United States ... and even worse, an Iranian government possessing the very same printing presses used to create American money.

If you've ever wondered just why American currency was redesigned in the 1990s, now you know. In the 1970s, the US rewarded an ally with a special machine; in the 1990s, the US had to change its money because that ally was no longer an ally, and that special machine was now a weapon used to attack the US's money supply, where it really hurts. As an example of the law of unintended consequences, it's powerful, and it illustrates one of the main results of that law: that those unintended consequences can really bite back when you least expect them.
http://64.233.187.104/search?q=cache:SEG29LBxpmsJ:www.securityfocus.com/print/columnists/293+shah+intaglio+presses+currency&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=4

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