Michael Moore probably didn’t get a Christmas card from the Bushes this year — or any year for that matter. But he did recently get a nice letter from OFAC telling him we was under investigation.

It seems that Moore made a trip to Cuba in March 2007 while filming his new film “Sicko” and it seems that he didn’t have a license. So why didn’t OFAC simply fire off a charging letter and tell Moore to open up his checkbook? Because, as the OFAC letter states,

OFAC has information indicating that you claimed to qualify under the provision for general license [sic] for full-time journalists

That evidence is probably an April 15 New York Post article where a producer for the film told the Post reporter that the film crew traveled to Cuba pursuant to a “”general license that allows for journalistic endeavors there.”

The OFAC letter demands that, if Moore is claiming the general license for journalists, Moore should:

provide evidence [he is] regularly employed as a journalist by a news-reporting organization.

The general license for journalists to travel to Cuba is set forth in 31 C.F.R. § 515.563 and it covers travel to Cuba by individuals “regularly employed as a journalist by a news-reporting organization.”

Now Moore’s occupation and employment are not exactly state secrets and should be well known even to folks chained to their desks in the Cuba section at OFAC. He’s a documentary film-maker. Documentary film-makers are journalists. He’s employed by his production company Dog Eat Dog which makes documentaries. Companies that make documentaries are news-reporting organizations plain and simple.

This is the first instance I am aware of where OFAC has challenged the bona fides of a documentary film-maker who has traveled to Cuba on the general license to make a documentary film. Charlize Theron traveled to Cuba, apparently on a general license, to make her documentary on Cuban hip-hop and she hasn’t been asked to cough up her journalistic credentials. Perhaps that was because her documentary criticized Castro’s pervasive censorship of the arts in Cuba.

Moore may be controversial. People might not agree with what he says and think he’s a big fat liar. But that doesn’t mean that he isn’t a journalist or that his documentary film company isn’t a news-gathering organization.

During an investigation of Col. William Steele for alleged improprieties in his oversight of the prison in Baghdad where high value detainees are kept, an interesting tidbit was revealed. Witnesses testified that Col. Steele provided Saddam Hussein with Cuban cigars. Hair dye too, but it’s the Cohibas that are causing the ruckus.

Army Brig. Gen. Kevin McBride of the 43rd Military Police Brigade of Rhode Island, who oversaw Iraq’s detention facilities while Steele was running Camp Cropper, said purchases of cigars for Saddam had been approved before either he or Steele assumed their commands.

OFAC mavens, of course, will understand that the folks over at OFAC are going to bust a gut over this. They are probably drafting a charging letter right now and trying to decide which military officials will be the happy recipients. Or maybe not.

The problem, you see, is that it’s not just illegal to import Cuban cigars. It’s illegal to buy them anywhere in the world even if you have no plans to bring them back to the United States. The “Cuban Cigar Update” posted on the OFAC website is succinct on this point:

The question is often asked whether United States citizens or permanent resident aliens of the United States may legally purchase Cuban origin goods, including tobacco and alcohol products, in a third country for personal use outside the United States. The answer is no.

Remember this the next time you’re in Europe and someone tries to slip you a Cohiba Cigar or a shot of Havana Club Rum.

(Via Export Boy.)