Are good intentions sufficient for a Democrat Congressman to accept money from a terrorist group? I have some serious issues with blindly using laws when human disasters are occuring. What would be the use in enforcing litter laws in a tornado? It seems one person’s wish to help has led him to be tarred with supporting terrorists:

Illinois congressman Danny Davis and an aide took a trip to Sri Lanka last year that was paid for by the Tamil Tigers, a group that the U.S. government has designated as a terrorist organization for its use of suicide bombers and child soldiers, law enforcement sources said.

Davis’ seven-day trip came under new scrutiny this week following the arrests of 11 supporters of the organization on charges of participating in a broad conspiracy to support the terrorist group through money laundering, arms procurement and bribery of U.S. officials.

The five-term Democratic congressman said he was unaware that the Tigers paid for the trip and on his required congressional disclosure form he reported that the trip was paid for by a Hickory Hills, Ill.-based Tamil cultural organization, the Federation of Tamil Sangams of North America.

During the visit, Davis spent most of his time in a region controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, as the group is formally known, and visited the organization’s political headquarters. He also met with a police chief for the region appointed by the Tigers.

The Tamil Tigers is a separatist group that has been fighting since 1983 for an independent state for 3.2 million ethnic Tamils in Sri Lanka, a tear-shaped island nation of 20 million off the southern tip of India. In addition to conventional guerrilla tactics, the group has used terrorist methods, including 200 suicide bombings, in a bloody conflict that has claimed more than 60,000 lives. Though the violence between the government and the separatist group abated during the past several years, it recently surged again, threatening a renewed civil war.

Davis said he believed that the trip, from March 30 to April 5, 2005, was paid for by the Tamil federation, which in accordance with congressional ethics rules sent him a written statement of the travel expenses, more than $7,000 each for Davis and his aide, Daniel Cantrell. Davis said he knew that the group was “associated” with the Tamil Tigers but did not realize that the trip’s costs were covered with funds controlled by the rebel group.

It is clear from statements by the Congressman that he was on a mission to assess tsunami relief effrorts, and he even returned and held hearings on why humanitarian aide should not be restricted in some cases. Now I am not saying we should rebuild the terrorists infrastructure. But sending food and medicine and the materials to deal with thousands of dead bodies and orphaned children does not seem out of line. And surely the simple act of calling attention to this situation is not. At not proven to me yet.

Did the Congressman accept the travel arrangements to visit the devastated region? Yes he did. But somehow I am cannot find the great wrong in accepting terrorists money to assess human disaster. There better be some real evidence that this trip was for some purpose beyond disaster relief if there are to be negative consequences.