Singer Tony Bennett on 9/11: ‘Are We the Terrorists?’

September 20th, 2011 9:27 AM

Singer Tony Bennett has sold over 50 million album copies but that success doesn't seem to have required much common sense or decency. In a recent interview, the veteran crooner sounded appallingly similar to controversial left-wing minister Jeremiah Wright, stating, among other things that America "caused" 9/11 to happen.

In what was supposed to be an interview about his latest music collection, Bennett took a turn far afield when he began lashing out at U.S. foreign policy, creating a grotesque moral equivalence between Al Qaeda terrorists who deliberately inflict mass civilian casualties and America:  “Who are the terrorists? Are we the terrorists or are they the terrorists? Two wrongs don’t make a right,” he said.

Bennett, who has a long history of  being an outspoken supporter of liberal Democrats, made these remarks in an interview with Howard Stern, still isolated on his own channel on Sirius Radio. He stated that his service during World War II turned him into a pacifist, apparently beyond the reach of rationality:

Bennett, 65 years after leaving his military life behind, has sold over 50 million albums and developed definite opinions about other wars involving the United States.

“To start a war in Iraq was a tremendous, tremendous mistake internationally,” he said.

Stern then asked Bennett about how America should deal with terrorists, specifically those responsible for the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center.

“But who are the terrorists? Are we the terrorists or are they the terrorists? Two wrongs don’t make a right,” Bennett said.

In a soft-spoken voice, the singer disagreed with Stern’s premise that 9/11 terrorists’ actions led to U.S. military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“They flew the plane in, but we caused it,” Bennett responded. “Because we were bombing them and they told us to stop.”

In the interview, Bennett also recounted what he said was a conversation he'd had with George W. Bush during which the former president supposedly said that he'd "made a mistake" by invading Iraq.

If Tony Bennett reports it, it's got to be true! When is he going to get his own MSNBC show?!