After learning more about the actual facts behind Pat Tillman's fate, David Was and I decided we needed to speak up in the way we do best. The song is called "All Been Planned." Without even addressing the personal tragedy of the Tillman family, this appears to have been a vile debacle.
Learning from Tillman's sister that Pat was turning away from his handlers -- Rumsfeld, Cheney and Bush -- and was planning to meet with Noam Chomsky on his way home from Afghanistan, shed a whole new light on the Administration's handling of this sad, sad business. If this administration walks away from power without being held accountable for their crimes, it will be their greatest and most ignoble achievement.
When my friends and I broke the law in the '60s and '70s, we were sent to prison. It appears that this principle holds true only for non-Bush offenders. Is this a nation of laws or a nation of men?
It's got a good beat, but then, who's dancing?
ALL BEEN PLANNED
WHEN THOSE SILVER TOWERS CRUMBLED
ON THAT FATEFUL AUTUMN DAY
HE WAS SHOCKED AND HE WAS HUMBLED
SAID HE'D MAKE THOSE MONSTERS PAY
SO HE HUNG HIS CRIMSON HELMET
AND THE JERSEY THAT HE WORE
HE ENLISTED IN THE ARMY
WHERE HE FELT HE COULD DO MORE
THERE'D BE NO MORE SUPER SUNDAYS
NO MORE WILD CHEERING CROWDS
FOR THE POSTER BOY HAS FALLEN
AND THE NATION SHOULD BE PROUD
OR AT LEAST THAT'S WHAT THEY TOLD US
THAT HE'D DIED A NOBLE DEATH
THEY TELEVISED THE DIRTY LIES
N'TRIED TO COVER UP THE MESS
O HEAVEN IS FOR HEROES
AND PAT TILLMAN HE WAS ONE
SO ARE ALL THE BRAVE YOUNG SOULS
WHO HAVE STOOD BEHIND THE GUN
HE WAS ONLY TEN YARDS DISTANT
FROM THE FATAL TRIGGER HAND
AND ITS EASY TO IMAGINE THAT
IT MIGHT HAVE ALL BEEN PLANNED
IT TOOK FIVE WEEKS FOR WASHINGTON
TO TELL HIS FOLKS THE TRUTH
PAT TILLMAN FELL FROM FRIENDLY FIRE
IN HIS DUSTY ARMY BOOTS
THEY POLISHED UP A SILVER STAR
AND PINNED IT ON HIS CHEST
THEY DRAPED HIM IN THE FLAG
HE LOVED AND SENT HIM TO HIS REST
AND SOMEWHERE IN THE GOVERNMENT
JUST HOW HIGH WE'LL NEVER KNOW
THE VOICES WHISPERED SOFTLY
THAT THE STORY MUST BE SOLD
OF A YOUNG MAN'S BRAVE ENCOUNTER
WITH THE ENEMY THAT NIGHT
HOW HE FACED HIS FATE COURAGEOUSLY
AND SACRIFICED HIS LIFE