Tony Bennett Tells Howard Stern: ‘We Caused 9/11′

Legendary Entertainer Later Backs Off, Says U.S. 'Greatest Country In The World'

September 20, 2011 11:56 PM

Tony Bennett (Photo by Larry Busacca/Getty Images)

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911, Howard Stern, Sirius XM, Tony Bennett

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) - Maybe he should have left his mouth in San Francisco.

Legendary crooner Tony Bennett, 85, appeared on Howard Stern’s Sirius XM show on Monday night to promote his upcoming release “Duets II.” The conversation took a bizarre turn after Stern asked Bennett, a veteran of World War II, how the United States should deal with the terrorists who were responsible for destroying the World Trade Center.

Bennett: ”Are we the terrorists or are they the terrorists? Two wrongs don’t make a right.”

Stern: “They are the ones who started it — flying that plane into the World Trade Center. What do you do?”

Bennett: “I don’t know about that.”

Stern: “Are you one of those conspiracy guys who actually thinks they didn’t fly the plane…that the government started it?”

Bennett: “They flew the plane in but we caused it.”

Stern: “Why?”

Bennett: “Because we were bombing them and they told us to stop.”

Bennett then went on to describe an encounter with President George W. Bush at the Kennedy Center in 2005 where Bennett was being honored. Regarding the war in Iraq, “He told me personally that night that, he said, ‘I think I made a mistake,’” said Bennett.

Bennett told Stern he believed that the president made the revelation because “he had a special liking to me.”

Late Tuesday afternoon, Bennett released a statement saying: “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.

He later added, “I was accused of not loving America, and it’s the greatest country in the world.”

Bennett wanted to make sure not to overshadow his granddaughter’s art show on Tuesday night in SoHo, and when CBS 2’s Derricke Dennis talked to her all she would say is that he has a history of strong opinions.

“My grandfather’s a pacifist, he’s anti-war,” Kelsey Bennett said.

But Tony Bennett has hurt the feelings of Maureen and Al Santora of Astoria, Queens. They live just blocks from where Bennett was born and lost their son Christopher, a firefighter, on 9/11.

“It’s upsetting because it brings up the issue again,” Al Santora said.

“He’s one of ours and it saddens me that he’s talking in this crazy manner,” Maureen Santora added.

What do you think of Tony Bennett’s comments? Sound Off below

Tony Bennett Tells Howard Stern: We Caused 9/11

Nick

Awwww…. How cute. A retread speaks.

Michael H.

Tony is a tire?

Nick

Too stupid to know they censored r e t a r d ? You retread.
Rodin

TIGER, Tony the Tiger.

RIchie

Tony….you’re a great singer and I love you for that. But keep your nose out of politics and keep your mouth shut.

mum

keep your mouth shut? really? you might wanna reflect a bit.

BOBBY SPINOZA

TONY WAS A HEAVY, HEAVY COCAINE ABUSER IN THE 1980′S WHILE TOURING LAS VEGAS. PERHAPS THIS IS WHY HE SPEWED SUCH IDIOTIC REMARKS. ADDITIONALLY, I NEVER COULD UNDERSTAND HIS POPULARITY. HE IS AS ITALIAN AS CAN BE AND YET HE NEVER ONCE RECORDED A SONG IN ITALIAN. SINATRA, “THE CHAIRMAN OF THE BOARD, THE POPE”, HE TOO NEVER RECORDED A SINGLE SONG IN ITALIAN. THIS DURING A TIME IN OUR COUNTRY THAT ALL THE OTHER ITALIAN SINGERS OF THE TIME DID IN FACT RECORD ITALIAN SONGS, OR ENTIRE ALBUMS IN ITALIAN.
MORE ON TON’Ys ILLOGICAL RAMBLING(S). HE’S PAZZO!!!!!. I TRULY BELIEVE THAT DURING THE TAPING OF THIS IINTERVIEW HE WAS INDEED “HIGH”, OR GO WITH THE OTHER OBVIOUS WHICH WOULD BE THE EARLY TO MODERATE STAGES OF DEMENTIA.

Obake

He’s an American, dummy! If he needs a passport to go to Italy he’s not Italian. So sick of this hyphenated BS! If you’re a citizen of the US you are an AMERICAN period!
He’s also entitled to his opinion, just like everybody else under the first amendment.
Even if they don’t agree with yours. Disagreement with your opinions doesn’t mean he’s demented or stoned.
P.S. I’m no fan of him as a singer or his opinions but whats right is right.

Jay

Yes Obake! I applaud you.

Garth

Were you deprived of regular food during childhood and just made to eat pasta and pizza for years straight ?? What in the name of good God does rcording an album in Italian have to do with the article in question. Go lie down, and watch your favorite old commercial, ‘Prince spaghetti day’ over and over again. It will remind you of where you should have stayed. Senility is a fact of life, and recording an album in Italian won’t reverse the symptoms. In your case no one has a clue what ailment you are suffering from other than complete stupidity.
Johnny Handsome

Bobby, its people like you who will sell his own mother to the devil for a hand job. Tony stated fact. Just as your people – the mafia will tell you – if someone picks on you, its only a matter of time before they wake yo with a horse head in the bed.

pete

Tony had a nice voice, but it probably sounded that good because of the empty space between his ears. Keep singing Tony, stop talking, it does sound lousy!!
Maria P

Old people got no reason to liiiiive!
DaEmph

Sorry but the US stick its damn nose into everybody’s business, indirectly he is right. Matter of fact didn’t the US fund for weapons and training and school for the Bin Laden family?!?
The US is its own worse enemy because politis are too laxed, all sorts of foreigners can come here and do what they please (biggest mistake…no wonder the United States is behind than other contries) take a look around. The dollar anit worth sh!t, credit rating, jobs, healthcare, education, the country is turning into one big ass joke, hell people are going to Asia to get jobs because there isn’t hardly sh!t here….and don’t bring the Obama bullsh!t into this, EVERYONE in Washipton, to the Capital is responsible for the state of affaris this country is in….Dems and Republicans are BOTH to blame, this is NOT some one sided thing here.
Joe Russo

For all of the sheeple here….please read this and maybe you’ll learn something today from a source other than state run TV:

http://www.thenation.com/article/blowback

KOAM

Sorry russo, Stern is not state run.

Rosie O

So then Rosie O Donnel was wrong?
Building 7 was forced down by an office fire?

Kevin

me thinks the happy vappy pot smoking has affected his brain

Wrath

Me thinks you have no excuse for your stupidity, other than genetics.

homie dont play dat

another jerkoff celebrity who thinks there opinion counts!!!!

Michael H.

It’s not his opinion. He got some of the details wrong but he was right that 9/11 was a direct result of our military presence in the middle east.

LITTLESTAR

yOU FOOL. ARE YOU SAYING THAT WE SHOULD ABANDON ISREAL, THE PEOPLE WHO GAVE YOU ALL YOUR GAY RIGHTS ?

Michael H.

Comment of the day award goes to…

Wrath

Another internet imbecile who’s a hypocrite.

littlestar

why am I a, how do you spell it ? Oh great wrath of con job, , , ,

sk

he just sounding like a liberal hollywood star! there is nothing to argue about who started 9/11. US went to war w/ iraq after the twin towers were hit! he just sound slike a liberal who can’t admit the truth!

Michael H.

And you don’t know your history. It wasn’t that long ago. We had a military presence in the middle east that Bin Laden disagreed with. That is a direct cause of the attacks on 9/11.

sk

if you hear a lot of speeches taliban, and other militant groups say they hate america becuase they are not moslem. “holy wars” “jihad” these are terms used by these militant groups. This was not so long ago either! besides, any hate group you hear about has an excuse why they attacked. and there always people who defend them!

Michael H.

we’re talking specifically about 9/11 right now, and Bin Laden gave a very specific reason for it. I’m not defending his reasoning, I’m simply pointing out the fact that it exists, whether legitimate or not.

Doubter

He has a lot of courage to express doubt over the official line on 9-11. And I agree that the more our government interferes in the Mid-East, the more it puts our citizens in danger.
Jerry

He is an old moron. Too bad he wasn’t in the towers on 9/11!
Edward Anthony

Happy 85th Birthday big guy! Glad to see the Golden Voice is doing well @ 85. You are on the right road with that 9-11 assumption and there clearly were other reasons in the mix as well. Let’s hope & pray we don’t let ourselves drift or get led into a replay.. 2005?
David Ruffin

Oh man…..just like Helen Thomas…….old people need to keep their mouths shut, but maybe they don’t know they’re losing it before it’s too late.

Obake

Children should be seen and not heard Dave. So go sit in the corner and be quiet like a good little boy!

susan

the men who got together to hijack and kill americans were not representative of the country of iraq..they were members of a terrorist group whose sole pupose was to kill americans in the name of allah..it had nothing to do a particular country..besides all that, they were not all even citizens of that country, but came from saudi arabia and pakistan..tony bennett seems to have one of those “comspiracy” theories..ridiculous..like saying we bombed pearl harbor ourselves to start ww2!!

Michael H.

It’s not a conspiracy theory. It’s called “blowback” and it was a direct result of our military presence in the Middle East, particularly what Bin Laden deemed “holy land” at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia. This is a well documented fact.

B

Hey “The Facts”… do your homework. You think Osama “hated our freedoms” and that’s why he could convince 19 men to kill themselves and murder innocent people? He wanted infidels off of Muslim soil and the military refused to close their bases — USS Cole and the embassies were bombed for reasons that Osama thought were valid.

The Facts

Do not put words in my mouth that I did not say. Do your homework!

B

You said: “How were we doing any bombing at the time of the terrorist attack?” YOU do your homework — find out about this thing called the Gulf War. Who cares if we were bombing other countries on 9/11/01? Osama planned the operation for years.

The Facts

I know about Desert Storm. I am not convinced that it was related to to the 9-11-01 terrorist attack. Where is the evidence? How do you know it played any part in Bin Laden’s thought process?

Don

Bin Laden offered the Saudi govt the help of the Muhajadeen to expel Iraq from Kuwait but was rebuffed. He made it clear that the war to expel Iraq from Kuwait should be fought ONLY with Muslim soldiers and NOT foreigners like the U.S. and British. those are the FACTS.

The Facts

Thank you for this information that I was unaware of. I disagree with our participation in both Gulf Wars, but our policies cannot be controlled by what a madman like Bin Laden thinks or may do. Despite our mistakes, there was no justification for murdering 3,000 ciivilians on 9-11-01.

Wrath

It’s not just Desert Storm, it’s our meddling since the creation of Israel. We have become world police so of course people are going to react violently in response. they’ve made several attempts at diplomacy, but since we’re so strong they’ve never been addressed. Face it, we’ve become the world bully and now we’re getting what’s coming to us. Our enemy is NOT in the mid east, it’s in DC.

Dr. Boombots

Tony, Tony, Tony. You’re losing it guy! Possibly related to that syphilis you reportedly had contracted in the 90′s. The mind’s not all there.
Bubba

How desperate is an artist like TB to be on the stern show. The fact he would appear on that show proves he is slowly losing his mental capacity.

Chris Schiavone

Stern’s show has an estimated 8 million plus listeners. He’d be stupid not too.

Joe Russo

He’s 100% right. It’s called blowback and the CIA clearly defines it in text books. Our actions, coupled with occupation of various countries in the mideast and support of Israel are the main culprits. Stop denying it sheeple..it’s the truth and it hurts to hear it! Until we change our foreign policy and stop trying to police the world…nothing will change.

The Facts

We did not occupy various countries in the middle east on 9-11-01.

Michael H.

We had a base at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia up until 2003. I owuldn’t call it an “occupation” but Bin Laden himself cited it as one of the reasons for the attack on 9/11.

Liam Carey

Why would anyone try to nail Tony Bennett for making this statement? He’s been a wonderful artist all his life and has brought a lot of love to a lot of people through song. Just forget about it.

Sinatra was better any way!!

He should have kept his G*D D*MN mouth shut and plugged his Duets 2 CD instead of pouring salt in his fellow New Yorkers’ wounds. A lot have healed from 9/11, but not all of us did!!

Lou

I agree 100%……… and Sinatra was better!!!!!

The Facts

9-11-01 was prior to the start of the last Iraq war. How were we doing any bombing at the time of the terrorist attack? The man is confused.

Chris Schiavone

Hey The Facts. I believe you are the one who is confused. We attacked Iraq 10 years before 9/11/01. The Gulf War? Desert Storm? Ring a bell?

The Facts

I did not forget Desert Storm. It was long over before the terrorists attacked us on 9-11-01. I see no connection to Desert Storm.

skweegee

Didn’t take his Aracept.
jme

he’s over the hill and probably has dementia
Benny

Tony,

Two things — it’s time for some new glasses and for the old age home!!
Linda

I agree he should have left his mouth in San Francisco.

Aaron

Tony, shut up and sing. You obviously left your brain in San Francisco.
tyclip

Tony might be wrong or right, depending on how you look at the situation. We have been the policemen of the world for many decades now. Soldiers die and mulyi-mliionaires are made. Ike tried to warn us.
kevin

A lot of poeple should keep their mouths closed

Wrath

You belong in a tyrannical system. Where you’ll be expected to keep your mouth closed.

Not like you really have anything to say, anyway. Just “Me too!”