Another day, another outrageous allegation launched against a Democrat with zero evidence. The sensationalist, not even vaguely accurate Big Government headline from reliably inane blogger Jim Hoft states: "Barbara Boxer Approved Code Pink Trip to Fallujah to Donate $600,000 to Extremists." Hoft baselessly accused Sen. Boxer of “aiding and abetting terrorists to kill US soldiers,” citing a recent American Thinker post that also provided no evidence for the claim. Here's the charge as laid out in the American Thinker by Scott Swett:
Code Pink delivered $600,000 in cash and supplies to the very insurgents the Marines had been fighting against - quite literally giving aid and comfort to America's enemies in a time of war. As noted in Islam Online, a diplomatic courtesy letter from Barbara Boxer helped make the trip possible.
In fact, the Islam Online article cited by Swett notes that the $600,000 raised by Code Pink, military family members and other organizations was for “humanitarian aid to the refugees of the war-torn city of Fallujah,” not insurgents. As Reuters reported on December 3, 2004, “More than 200,000 people who fled Fallujah ahead of the US offensive have yet to return and many are in desperate need of aid, with temperatures in Iraq heading towards freezing, a new UN emergency report says.”
The suggestion that this was somehow “aiding and abetting terrorists” is a total fabrication. As Nadia McCaffrey -- who joined the humanitarian aid delegation that delivered the money after losing her son in Iraq -- told Rick Sanchez on the May 30, 2005 edition of CNN's Newsnight (accessed via Nexis):
NADIA MCCAFFREY, MOTHER OF KILLED U.S. SOLDIER: The day he decided to enlist, the day after 9/11. He didn't thought a second that he would be one day deployed to Iraq and end up his life there. Patrick was the first combat death in 58 years, the first soldier, National Guard to be killed in action in 58 years from California. He believed in the goodness of his country and his people. And he stood up for that to the moment he was killed. He was attacked by both sides of his body, through his vest.
And even wounded, he run to the other soldier to make a shield of himself. This picture is the one that was taken 40 minutes before his death. And the flowers that he has, that he is holding were given by the children.
He also, I'll show you after, took a picture at the same time of a little girl from the Humvee who was giving him a big flower that he later will have in his hand, holding her little brother. And that says it all. He would say to us -- you know, he would call every day and he would say to us, the children are my highlight.I think the gesture that we did, not just me, but the other parents, mothers, to go and meet with other parents and give the humanitarian aid of $600,000 for the children of Fallujah, that this was the most important thing, really. The children didn't start to war.
Hoft, Swett, and the others in the right-wing blogosphere peddling this story should get their facts straight before they start smearing people like McCaffrey in an attempt try to score cheap points against Senator Boxer. Their baseless accusations are bad enough, but they can't even get the fundamental details of the story correctly: Hoft says the delegation “traveled to Fallujah,” but a December 28, 2004, AP article on the trip itself has them only going as far as Jordan, reporting: “Parents of U.S. soldiers killed in Iraq emotionally expressed their opposition to the war and occupation Tuesday during a visit to Jordan as part of a humanitarian aid campaign to help Iraqis displaced by fighting in Fallujah last month” [accessed via Nexis].
Hoft recently set a standard for Democrats: Don't launch “disgusting attacks” without evidence to back them up. But here he is accusing Boxer of abetting terrorism. It's been nearly six years since the humanitarian aid was delivered; and Hoft can't find a shred of evidence to support his outrageous allegation.