Bennett apologizes for suggesting US provoked 9/11

NEW YORK (AP) - Tony Bennett apologized Wednesday for suggesting the United States provoked the 9/11 attacks, saying he was only expressing his feelings as a pacifist when he made the comments during an interview on Howard Stern's radio show.

"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," the 85-year-old crooner said in a written statement. "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."

On Monday, Bennett told Stern that the attacks by al-Qaida were linked to U.S. aggression.

"Are we the terrorists? Or are they the terrorists? Two wrongs don't make a right," he said on the show. "They flew the plane in. But we caused it. We were bombing them, and they told us to stop."

Bennett said Wednesday that he was proud to have fought for American values in World War II but had come to deplore violence.

"My life experiences - ranging from the Battle of the Bulge 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," Bennett said.

Bennett fought in the final stages of World War II as an infantryman with the U.S. Army in the European Theatre. Afterwards, he developed his singing technique, signed with Columbia Records, and had his first number one popular song with "Because of You" in 1951. In 1962, Bennett recorded his signature song, "I Left My Heart in San Francisco".