From TIME, 5/11/07:
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1620212,00.html
U.S. Probe Could Boost Moore Movie
By KATHIE KLARREICH/MIAMI
Michael Moore will never get a standing ovation from the Bush
Administration, but he certainly won't complain about the free
publicity he's getting for his newest documentary, SiCKO.
Free publicity for an adversary may not have been the government's
intention, but that has certainly been the effect of the investigation
Washington has launched against Moore just one week before the movie's
slated premiere at the Cannes Film Festival.
Last March, six months after his initial request for travel documents,
the award-winning documentary filmmaker visited Cuba.
There, he filmed a segment of SiCKO, his movie focusing on the failing
U.S. health-care industry.
For the segment, Moore had taken along ten 9/11 first-responders who
have been suffering respiratory problems ever since.
Now, the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC)
has opened an investigation on whether the filmmaker violated the U.S.
embargo of Cuba, sending him an official Requirement to Furnish
Information within 20 days.
Failure to answer or comply could result in fines of tens of thousands
of dollars.
Could there be a better way to promote a movie at Cannes?
The government declined to comment, saying only that OFAC issues
hundreds of letters each year asking for additional information when
possible violations have occurred.
In a typical year, 20,000 to 30,000 Americans travel to Cuba
illegally; only 1,000 are caught.
The Center for Constitutional Rights has represented 425 such people
over the last 10 years, and only four were fined.
"On its own terms, the ban is a failed policy," said Shayana Kadidal,
a CCR lawyer.
Not only has it failed to choke the Castro regime, he argues, but it
has ensured that the U.S. will have little influence over the
country's transition when Castro dies.
A recent Florida International University survey found that, for the
first time, even a majority of Cuban-Americans in Miami believe the
travel ban should be lifted.
Still, the travel ban is backed by considerable government resources:
OFAC, whose primary mission is counter terrorism, designates 15% of
its staff to enforcing Cuba travel restrictions — more employees than
those tracking Iraqi terrorists or those assigned to locate the
missing assets of Saddam Hussein.
Currently the ban excludes anyone other than full-time journalists,
media, government officials, members of international delegations,
full-time professionals and family members from spending any money in
Cuba.
But even individuals with a right to visit Cuba often experience long
delays after they file their request.
"Delay is tantamount to denial," said Bill Martinez, one of Moore's
legal advisors.
Martinez refused to comment on his client's defense strategy, saying
only that his legal team was going to be careful and deliberate in its
response.
His camp moved quickly to ensure that a master copy of SiCKO was
transferred to a safe house outside the country.
It also tapped a bevy of lawyers, including David Boies, veteran
counsel in Bush v. Gore.
Meanwhile the Weinstein Company, which is producing SiCKO, is enjoying
the free ride.
"It's like the Bush Administration had Mickey Mouse as part of their
investigative team," said Chris Lehane, a Weinstein Company
consultant. Weinstein also took over the production of Moore's 2004
award winning documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 when Disney dropped the
project.
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heh heh
Harry
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