Bjork Thinks It's 'Weird' That Americans Were Surprised by 9/11

The subject of 9/11 is always a sensitive one, so Bjork's comments that Americans shouldn't have been surprised that it happened are naturally causing a big stir.

The Icelandic singer spoke with a French publication at a recent Charlie Hebdo memorial event and recalled her experience being in New York around the time of the terrorist attacks.

"Iceland was a colony for six hundred years," she said. And, sometimes, colonialists become blind. They don’t measure the impact of their actions. For example, I found it very weird to be here, in New York, on September 11 2001 and to see this whole nation being shocked, surprised. Of course it was a terrible event, and 3000 people were killed. But seeing the policy of war carried out by the US, you can’t be completely surprised with the result."

She continued: "You can’t have huge armed forces, like you have in Danemark or France, intervening on foreign soil, killing people, and think it won’t have an impact. I’m not saying I have a solution because it seems it’s in human nature to declare war, unfortunately. But peace is also part of human nature. I don’t want to be the naïve one by saying each country should shut down their army, but I’m proud to be part of a country that doesn’t have one."

Iceland doesn't have its own army, but it is protected by NATO and has NATO troops stationed there, so Bjork's comments are technically correct. Still, the statement has been polarizing: some argue that we should always be surprised when so many civilians are targeted and killed, while others agree that the United States made itself a target of this sort of attack by becoming involved in foreign military actions.