This country was founded on freedom,
Yet laws are in place 'cause we need 'em.
  The laws protect our rights
  But there tend to be fights
That occur when a cult will not heed 'em.

The question inevitably arises
Of precisely what freedom comprises.
  When one group's "freedom to"
  Takes "freedom from" from you
The conflict can reach whole new sizes.

For example, the FBI found
That a Branch Davidian compound
  Was too scary a cult
  And that as a result
Force was necessary on the grounds.

So the ATF with FBI
Were sent in to make Waco comply.
  A siege went underways
  And in 51 days
The conflagration sent flames to the sky.

The compound was riddled with fire
But nobody knows just what transpired
  The Davidians and Feds
  Both repeatedly said
That the other had started the pyre.

The Feds say that the cultists began
With federal agent deaths as their plan.
  An ambush was the plot
  Cultists fired the first shot
At agents stepping out of transport vans.

Cultists turned their own compound to ash;
David Koresh commanded the stash
  Of flammable fuel
  To be spread. Like a fool,
Koresh in his rush was too rash.

But cultists claim that this is a big lie,
And the fault lies with the FBI.
  Cultists merely defended
  Mt. Carmel, and it ended
When tanks shot tear gas in their eye.

Cultists said it was flammable tear gas
The Feds all denied this when asked
  But new reports now vary
  Showing incendiary
Devices were used at this battle long past.

Matters have now gotten worse, as we know
Danforth was appointed counsel by Reno.
  Justice Department has pried
  At what the FBI denied
Finding files covered up on the scene-o.

And the larger question still remains
Of what rights to bear arms one retains.
  Are we now of the bent
  To set a precedent
For attacking compounds deemed insane?

Though their views may be out on the fringe,
This saga should make us all cringe.
  When federal forces can storm
  Groups who stray from the norm
On all our freedom it does impinge.