Family grieves for Marine, questions need for invasion Casualty: Kendall D. Waters-Bey's death prompts criticism of U.S. motives in the attack on Iraq. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -------- By Tom Pelton Sun Staff Originally published March 23, 2003
Nakia Waters and two of her sisters stood on the concrete porch of their parents' brick rowhouse in Baltimore yesterday, laughing about their memories of knock-down pillow fights and all-out water-gun duels with their brother, Kendall D. Waters-Bey, a Marine who was one of the first U.S. casualties of the Iraq war.
But tears started streaming down Waters' cheeks when they began to talk about whether their brother died for a good cause. All three said they are angry at President Bush for sending their brother to die in what they regard as an unjust and pointless war.
"This war is all about oil and money," said Waters, 26, wiping the tears away. "But he has already got oil and money. It's about greed. ... He ought to send his daughters over there to fight. See how long they'd last over there."
Their brother, a 29-year-old staff sergeant who supervised the maintenance of combat helicopters, was one of four U.S. Marines and eight British commandos who died Thursday when their CH-46E Sea Knight helicopter crashed and burned south of the Iraqi town of Umm Qasr.
Another of Waters-Bey's sisters, Sharita Waters-Bey, 23, said she was unmoved when Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld expressed his condolences during a televised press conference.
"That was just a show. They don't care. If they really cared, they would call or send something. They wouldn't go on national television to express that to us," she said. "They don't know what we're going through as a family."
While several politicians praised Waters-Bey's sacrifice in fighting for freedom, those words rang false among neighbors up and down the block of Northeast Baltimore rowhouses where Waters-Bey grew up.
Many in this stable, hardworking community north of Morgan State University agree with Waters-Bey's sisters, who believe their brother died for oil prices.
"If we lose this war, oil will be $100 a barrel, and if we win, it will be like $25 a barrel," said Jimmy Relish, a 60-year-old Vietnam War veteran who lives down the block from the family's home on Woodbourne Avenue. Waters-Bey "was a real nice guy, and it's really a shame he died, because I don't think this war was necessary."
George G. Streeter, a 70-year-old retired Postal Service supervisor and Korean War veteran who lives nearby, said he doubts the government's assertions that the United States had to go to war to protect itself from Saddam Hussein's weapons or help the Iraqi people.
"They say he is a threat, but it seems the biggest threat is North Korea," said Streeter. "Now North Koreans got all these nuclear weapons and are talking junk, and we aren't doing anything about that. And they sure aren't helping all those people starving in Africa. If the oil wasn't in Iraq, we wouldn't be there."
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