09/21/11

Tony Bennett Apologizes for Controversial 9/11 Comments

Singer had said the U.S. caused terrorist attacks

By Jeff Tamarkin

Singer Tony Bennett, 85, is in damage control mode today after stating on Howard Stern’s Sirius XM radio program that the United States caused the attacks on 9/11. While speaking with Stern yesterday, the topic rolled around to the fateful day in 2001 and Bennett stated, “But who are the terrorists? Are we the terrorists or are they the terrorists? Two wrongs don't make a right … They flew the plane in, but we caused it. Because we were bombing them and they told us to stop.”

Bennett further claimed that, in 2005, then-President George W. Bush "told me personally ... ‘I think I made a mistake.’” Bennett said he believed that Bush confided in him because Bush “had a special liking to me.”

Bennett, who is currently promoting his new Duets II album, backtracked today after news of his comments went viral. Saying that he made “a tremendous, tremendous mistake,” Bennett explained, “There is simply no excuse for terrorism and the murder of the nearly 3,000 innocent victims of the 9/11 attacks on our country … My life experiences—ranging from the Battle of the Bulge (in World War II) to marching with Martin Luther King—made me a lifelong humanist and pacifist, and reinforced my belief that violence begets violence and that war is the lowest form of human behavior … I am sorry if my statements suggested anything other than an expression of my love for my country, my hope for humanity and my desire for peace throughout the world.”