Tears Of Bitter Remorse

By Ken Hanson

Our country changed September 11,
Right there for the whole world to see.
Our way of life had a wake up call,
It’ll never again be the way it used to be.

When they knocked down our buildings,
And the Pentagon and more,
The message was clear,
They’ve invaded our shore.

For a long time we’ve heard on the six o’clock news,
The talk about fighting in some far off place.
But not around here, not since the 1800’s
Have we seen the fighting face to face.

But they brought the fight to us,
And quite by surprise, for you see,
They got us where we least expected,
They kicked us in our complacency.

The smoke hadn’t even begun to clear,
When our military started to respond.
But little did we know that day,
The way this war would drag on.

Our brave men and women in the U S Armed Forces,
Are always ready at the drop of a hat,
To defend our country and our way of life,
Against any invader, you can bet on that.

But what do you do when it’s a suicide mission,
And the invasion was done by so few.
They took our own planes, knocked ‘em out of the air,
And took their own lives, now what do you do?

We pretty much knew who was behind this attack,
A no good dirty rotten snake,
Called Osama Bin Laden, but what we didn’t know,
Was how many lives he could take.

We invaded Iraq looking for Nuclear Weapons,
That we were sure must be there.
But they must’ve moved ‘em, and that Devil Bin Laden,
Just vanished into thin air.

Now try as they might, our boys haven’t found him,
He’s hiding out in a cave somewhere.
He’s on his home turf, and has people behind him,
It’ll be a long time before it’s over, over there.

Now that’s not to say that our boys can’t find him,
And dig him out into the light of day.
But they’re not allowed to think for themselves,
They have to do what their superiors say.

The chain of command that our military uses,
Starts at the top in Washington D.C.
But a lot of the people there making decisions,
Sleep safe at home with their family.

They’re far more worried about their political future,
Than ending this conflict in a timely way.
And the grunts in the field with their boots in the sand,
Are putting their lives on the line every day.

What we have here is a pulled punches war,
Another political campaign.
But our enemy doesn’t play by the rules,
And their own courts took a year to deal with Hussein.

Our soldiers have the training to end this today,
Their frustration must be unbearable.
We’ve done this before, In Vietnam,
The similarities are certainly comparable.

Maybe we’re going about this all wrong,
Using a Howitzer to swat at a fly.
What if a cowboy went after Bin Laden?
It’s certainly worth a try!

Now before you start laughing, please let me explain,
Just give me a minute or two.
Have you ever heard of or seen a cowboy,
Fail to do what he said he would do?

Here’s how we could do this, we could find an old cowboy,
Willing to do the deed.
We could drop him off in the Afghani Mountains,
With his gun and his saddle and his trusty old steed.

He’d have to be someone seasoned enough,
To know how to live off the land.
Someone that could think for himself,
With plenty of patience, a sharp eye and steady hand.

Then our soldiers could head back home to their families,
They’ve earned a much needed rest.
And that cowboy could start pokin’ round in them mountains,
Eventually he’ll find that murders nest.

I doubt it’s much different than hunting some varmint,
That snuck up and killed your favorite horse.
And if you don’t stop him here and now,
He’ll come back and kill again, of course.

That old cowboy he’s used to being on his own,
Whether rounding up strays or a long cattle drive.
And Hank Jr. said it best when he told us,
A country boy can survive.

His horse can find some grass and water,
The wild ones do it every day.
And that cowboy can live a long time on beef jerky,
Wouldn’t hurt him to lose a few pounds anyway.

He’ll look for the signs a good tracker can read,
And listen real close on those windless still nights.
Sooner or later they’ll come out of their hole,
And guess who’ll have ‘em square in his sights.

Bin Laden’s so arrogant, he thinks that he knows us,
He’s played this game many times before.
But this time we’re the ones that have changed the rules,
We’re finally adapting to his kind of war.

He’s in his backyard and knows when to hide,
Cause he can hear us coming from ten miles away.
He’ll hunker down ‘till the commotion is over,
And live to kill on some other day.

When our military planners start a campaign,
It’s with thousands of tons of machinery and men.
Tanks shake the ground, artillery and mortars,
Throw thousands of shells again and again.

Humvees race around with radios squawking,
Men barking orders, boots pounding the ground.
Missile launchers and generators announce our presence,
By adding to this cacophonous sound.

Jets starting up and taking off,
Choppers and fighter planes fill the sky.
But when it all stops, he’ll come out of his hole,
And that’s the day Bin Laden will die.

When our boys go home and it gets real quiet,
He’ll think that the coast is clear.
But he’d never poke his head up,
If he knew that cowboy and his rifle were so near.

I hope that old cowboy will end it that day,
By putting one round through the middle of his head.
And I hope it brings closure to the still grieving families,
That because of his actions their loved ones are dead.

Is it wrong for me to say these words,
And wish that the life of another would end?
Perhaps, but only God can make that judgment,
And decide whether or not I have sinned.

And if I shed tears of bitter remorse,
When I finally face My God in Heaven,
I hope that my tears will water the grave,
Of someone who died September 11.