![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/abcnews.go.com\/images\/2020\/gty_tony_bennett_jp_110908_wblog.jpg?resize=478%2C269\" "\\"tony")
\nAmerican icon Tony Bennett took to the airwaves at Sirius Radio to promote his new album, \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Duets II,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d but it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s what he said about war, peace, terrorism, and who was to blame for the Sept. 11 terror attacks that could get people talking.<\/p>\n
Sitting down with Howard Stern on Monday, the 85-year-old singer dodged questions about his sex life and prior drug use. He did so with a laugh, but matters about the U.S. military and 9\/11 were fair game, and on these topics the Grammy winner held little back.<\/p>\n
Beginning with his service in World War II, Bennett said that his experiences as a teenager in combat forever changed his position on war.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153I\u00e2\u20ac\u2122m anti-war,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153It\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s the lowest form of human behavior.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Drafted by the U.S. Army in November 1944, Bennett served as an infantryman in Europe, moving across France, and later into Germany.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The Germans were frightened. We were frightened. Nobody wanted to kill anybody when we were on the line, but the weapons were so strong that it overcame us and everybody else.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Bennett credited the Army with allowing him to study singing under the GI Bill. He also admitted that his two years of service gave him enough time to witness the horrors of war.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153The first time I saw a dead German, that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s when I became a pacifist,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n
He told Stern that he was left forever shaken by the sight of death.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153It was a nightmare that\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s permanent,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153I just said, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcThis is not life. This is not life.\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153To start a war in Iraq was a tremendous, tremendous mistake internationally,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d he said.<\/p>\n
Stern then asked Bennett about how America should deal with terrorists, specifically those responsible for the 2001 attack on the World Trade Center.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153But who are the terrorists? Are we the terrorists or are they the terrorists? Two wrongs don\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t make a right,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Bennett said.<\/p>\n
In a soft-spoken voice, the singer disagreed with Stern\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s premise that 9\/11 terrorists\u00e2\u20ac\u2122 actions led to U.S. military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153They flew the plane in, but we caused it,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Bennett responded. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Because we were bombing them and they told us to stop.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Following seconds of silence, Stern said that his guest was \u00e2\u20ac\u0153making some good points.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
Before leaving, Bennett recalled an evening in 2005 when he was honored at the Kennedy Center. Meeting President George W. Bush at the event, the singer said that the commander-in-chief shared his opinion about the Iraq War.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153He told me personally that night that, he said, \u00e2\u20ac\u02dcI think I made a mistake,\u00e2\u20ac\u2122\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Bennett said.<\/p>\n
Bennett believed that the president made this revelation because \u00e2\u20ac\u0153he had a special liking to me.\u00e2\u20ac\u009d<\/p>\n
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