This is one of the newest urban myths. See below for what actually happened:

Starbucks Refused to Send Donated Coffee to Marines In Iraq and Said the Company Does Not Support the War-Fiction!
An email from a Marine who says some Marines wrote to Starbucks to say how much they liked Starbucks coffee and to request some donated coffee for the Marines. The eRumor says Starbucks responded by saying they don't support and war and will not send any coffee. The writer urges a boycott of Starbucks.

TruthOrFiction.com contacted Starbucks about the story.

Starbucks says that the originator of the email, Sgt. Howard Wright, and talked with him about his complaint.
He has now sent a follow-up email to his email list, which appears below.

Starbucks assured him of their support of the military and that the only reason any coffee was not donated was because the official Starbucks donation policy authorizes such gifts to officially designated public charities, including libraries and schools, and that the U.S. military or military personnel do not qualify.
It was not meant to be a comment on the war or the service of military personnel in the war.
The company said that there have been employees that have showed their support through donations of coffee.
Starbucks told us that many of the company's employees (called "partners" by Starbucks) receive one pound of free coffee each week and some of that coffee has gone to members of the military or related organizations.
For example, the employees in the Starbucks in Atascadero, California, decided to send their weekly free coffee to troops in Afghanistan and there are other such stories about Starbucks coffee finding its way into the hands of military personnel.

Here is Sgt. Wright's follow-up email after Starbucks spoke with him:

Dear Readers,
Almost 5 months ago I sent an e-mail to you my faithful friends. I did a wrong thing that needs to be cleared up. I heard by word of mouth about how Starbucks said they didn't support the war and all. I was having enough of that kind of talk and didn't do my research properly like I should have. This is not true. Starbucks supports men and women in uniform. They have personally contacted me and I have been sent many copies of their company's policy on this issue. So I apologize for this quick and wrong letter that I sent out to you.

Now I ask that you all pass this email around to everyone you passed the last one to. Thank you very much for understanding about this.

Howard C. Wright
Sgt USMC
1st Force Rcon Co
1st Plt PLT RTO

A real example of the eRumor as it has appeared on the Internet:

Subject: Starbucks

Dear everyone: Please pass this along to anyone you know, this needs to get
out in the open. Recently Marines over in Iraq supporting this country in OIF
wrote to Starbucks because they wanted ! to let them know how much they
liked their coffee and try to score some free coffee grounds. Starbucks wrote
back telling the Marines thanks for their support in their business, but that
they don't support the War and anyone in it and that they won't send them the
Coffee.
So as not to offend them we should not support in buying any Starbucks
products. As a War vet and writing to you patriots I feel we should get this out
in the open. I know this War might not be very popular with some folks, but
that doesn't mean we don't support the boys on the ground fighting street to
street and house to house for what they and I believe is right. If you feel the
same as I do then pass this along, or you can discard it and I'll never
know. Thanks very much for your support to me, and I know you'll all be there
again here soon when I deploy once more.

Semper Fidelis, Sgt Howard C. Wright
1st Force Recon Co
1st Plt PLT RTO

Thank you!

Looks like this all started with a hoax email back in 2004, and versions of that email are still circulating to this day!

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/starbucks-troop-support.shtml

Even the US Department of Defense has debunked it:

http://www.defenselink.mil/news/newsarticle.aspx?id=24883

And Starbucks has a detailed response:

http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/pressdesc.asp?id=684

I suggest you have some fun with your hubby over believing every improbable thing he hears, and tell him he owes you a Grande at least to make up! :)

Well...starbucks is a little on the evil side. On the bright side, it's a brilliant example of economics! They started out small, grew quickly as the economy prospered, then took a major hit with the recession.

Here is some info to throw back at him:
http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/starbucks.asp

http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/pressdesc.asp?id=684
"Recently, you may have heard mention of an old rumor concerning Starbucks support of military personnel. This rumor originated in the U.S. but has been modified and is now circulating throughout the UK as well. On behalf of Starbucks more than 160,000 dedicated partners (employees), we wanted to set the record straight.

This rumor is not, and never has been, true. It refers to false information contained in an email that originated in 2004. At that time, Starbucks contacted its author, a Marine Sergeant who subsequently sent an e-mail to his original distribution list correcting his mistake, the text of which is:"

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/starbucks-troop-support.shtml

http://hellscoffee.com/images/products/kristen-HC-tube-web.jpg

It's just a rumor that Starbucks is not supporting our troops. The coffee is given to the workers by the company as a monthly bonus.

Thinking about it logically, Starbucks is a for profit company, therefore they are not in the business to give out free coffee to anyone who comes in and says they are a troop member. It holds true with any business. If you walk into a movie theater and ask them for a free ticket because you are a troop member, they aren't going to give one to you, and the same holds true with Starbucks.

Starbucks has addressed this rumor in a press release that was last updated in October 2008.

http://www.starbucks.com/aboutus/pressdesc.asp?id=684

As a currently deployed soldier I can say that the rumor is false. A few months ago we recieved at least 50 pounds of starbucks coffee. Though it was not sent directly from Starbucks of course, they did sell the donated coffee at a significantly discounted rate to those who donated it. As far as Starbucks being evil though... I have to agree with your husband. We now have 4 different coffee shops on my base out here, the newest being a Starbucks. Starbucks charges the most and in my opinion is not the best coffee... But that is just my opinion.

All the above answers, and your hubby's views will prove how we still drive up passions around nationalism and patriotism. Who originated that mail? No one will ever know. Probably a competitor? Some disgruntled employee? Anyway.

If some corporation had the guts to do something like that - I'd support that org. Billions wasted on wars, for no reasons - someone ought to speak up!

Your friend is right, and wrong at the same time.

Starbucks is a corporation. Like all corporations, they are designed in such a way as to disregard the human element of "individuals" and protect the bottom line. They are not designed to have a heart, to have a conscience, or to care, but they are designed to thrive and grow.

Starbucks will outlive this "evil" label that is has gained, much in the way that McDonalds, Coke, Microsoft, and all of the other corporate giants labeled as "evil" due to the corporate nature.

When I lived in Portland, this debate broke out about Starbucks, and they survived that one - and they will survive the future "haters", too.
http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2006/10/347993.shtml

That's a long-debunked rumor. Below you'll find a link to the story on Snopes that shows the details...and I can confirm as a soldier who served in Iraq that we did have occasional bags of Starbucks coffee sent to us. The company itself does not donate the coffee...but it does provide the means for customers to do so (by buying a bag which is shipped for free) or for their employees to donate their pound-a-week freebie.

However, Starbucks IS evil. Tasty, yummy evil.

Hahaha. The over-all character that this establishment exudes is undoubtedly, one of hyped-up blandness. I mean, from what I've been informed, Starbucks started from small, and built themselves up to an empire. Good for them. But know this. When your on top of a lucrative Franchise, selling a commodity like coffee, essentially controlling exactly where, when(people frequently wait in line at certain locations) and you don't want to give back, especially for as much you want to charge for a simple cup of coffee,(A extra$2.00 if you want a Whapichino-Whacichino-whatever) expect to get hassled. when you don't donate a certain amount of your goods, but you take your liberty in building a new location every corner on every other block, expect to get hassled. Your somewhat responsible for the misplacement of other good-natured, integral coffee establishments not existing in that relative area. However, I know that the place was running a campaign in stores where I live in Minnesota, and that it was to promote donations from customers. I'm also pretty sure that Starbucks was shipping it over, so there's a point for being "less evil" for Starbucks anyways. Or maybe it's a sign that they're not evil at all, but the opposite-modestly generous, unlike an entity of evil posing as a thing of goodness, adn donating in abundance. Personally,and in all fairness, I think Starbucks coffee tastes lack luster for the price, the menu is rubbish; a redundant eye-sore, and people who are hardcore loyal customers' are either suckers for the enticing psychosomatic image, or that very image is symbolic for pompousness, which gives people a comforting sense of self-importance and power when they are associated with it. I'm not calling you pompous. If you want an argument for your husband, just build-up a case, based on the integrity of belief that Starbucks is good because they've supposedly spent a lot of money to ship all the coffee that customers have donated. I feel a weird vibe when I go into a Starbucks for some reason.

Your husband may have fallen pray to yet another hoax/internet lie: A this famously correct site, http://www.snopes.com/politics/military/starbucks.asp, (snopes) you will find the variations on a theme of this sort. Starbucks indeed supports US troops.

Yes, he is evil. He comes to Seattle from NY. Is inspired by the coffee culture there and creates an empire that puts local coffee shops out of business all over the world. Then he buys the favorite Seattle team, and when the city decides they can only afford $233M to renovate his arena (instead of the $300M he demanded), in a huff he sells the team to an ownership group from Oklahoma as long as they promise a good faith effort to keep the team in Seattle. What's their "good faith effort"? They demand a $350M renovation. Big surprise, it doesn't happen, and a franchise born over 40 years ago moves from a bigger market to a much smaller market. Meanwhile, what happened to carpetbagger Howie? He pocketed a cool $60-80M from the sale, files a pointless lawsuit to try to polish up his image and laughs all the way to the bank. The only silver lining to this whole tale is that with the economy in it's current state, people are deciding that $3-4 for a cup of coffee is stupid, and now Howie is paying for his ridiculous over expansion. Payback is a B!tch Evil Howie.

There's also the point that, in the second Austin Powers movie, it was revealed that Dr. Evil owns Starbucks and uses it's headquarters as the center of his evil empire. While technically fiction, the way audiences laughed implies that there must be a note of truth in there somewhere.

They are not evil, just boring. I mean, come on folks, Maynard would never have hung out at Starbucks, but Dobie Gillis would have. What do you mean, that you never heard of Dobie Gillis?