Wasting $'s on GAO study of Cuba sanctions

Washington Post:

U.S. sanctions against Cuba are more restrictive than those imposed on any other country, including Iran and North Korea, and their rigorous enforcement risks diverting government attention from higher-priority counterterrorism tasks, a new government audit has found.

Rep. Charles B. Rangel (D-N.Y.), who requested the Government Accountability Office audit with Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.), criticized the Bush administration for directing scarce resources toward what he called "trivial violations" of import controls, such as Cuban cigars and rum carried by individual travelers, at the expense of "the security that we really need against terrorists."

The year-long GAO study looked at the effects of restrictions the administration imposed on travel and trade with Cuba in 2004, tightening already stringent sanctions imposed in the early 1960s. The new measures included elimination of small "personal use" allowances for Cuban products and reduced the amount of money Cuban Americans could send to relatives on the island as well as the permitted frequency of their visits there. A ban on spending any money in Cuba effectively prohibits Americans without Cuban family members from traveling there. (Emphasis added.)

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The GAO spent a year to come up with this nonsense? A year! And they claim the embargo is a waste of resources? I am sure Charlie Rangel would love to have his cigars and rum from Cuba, but this report has to be a huge waste of government resources and money. Hint to Rangel--when we get rid of the communist in Cuba you can have all the rum and cigars you want.