Editing Bush Doctrine (section)

===Attacking countries that harbor terrorists===
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The doctrine was developed more fully as an executive branch response following the September 11 attacks. The attacks presented a foreign policy challenge, since it was not [[Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan (1996–2001)|Afghanistan]] that had initiated the attacks, and there was no evidence that they had any foreknowledge of them.<ref name=WorldDefenseReview_Phares_20071130>{{cite journal|url=http://worlddefensereview.com/phares113007.shtml |title=Bin Laden and Future Jihad in Europe|first=Walid |last=Phares|author-link= Walid Phares |journal=World Defense Review|date=November 30, 2007}}</ref> In an address to the nation on the evening of September 11, Bush stated his resolution of the issue by declaring that, "We will make no distinction between the terrorists who committed these acts and those who harbor them."<ref name=GWB_20010911>{{cite web|url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/print/20010911-16.html |title=Statement by the President in His Address to the Nation|date= September 11, 2001 |first=George W. |last=Bush|author-link=George W. Bush|publisher=The White House}}</ref> The president made an even more aggressive restatement of this principle in his [[September 2001 George W. Bush speech to a joint session of Congress|September 20, 2001 address]] to a [[Joint session of the United States Congress|joint session of Congress]]:<ref name="congress20sep01">{{cite news |url=https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/print/20010920-8.html |title=Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People |publisher=[[The White House]] |first=George W. |last=Bush |author-link=George W. Bush |date=September 20, 2001|access-date=2008-09-19}}</ref>

{{quote|We will pursue nations that provide aid or safe haven to terrorism. Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists. From this day forward, any nation that continues to harbor or support terrorism will be regarded by the United States as a hostile regime.}}

[[White House Press Secretary]] [[Ari Fleischer]] later wrote in an autobiographical account of that address, "In a speech hailed by the press and by [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democrats]], [the President] announced what became known as the 'Bush Doctrine'".<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZZV7BY-sFbIC&q=Taking+heat|title=Taking Heat: The President, the Press, and My Years in the White House|first=Ari|last=Fleischer|date=March 20, 2005|publisher=HarperCollins|isbn=9780060747626|via=Google Books}}</ref> The first published reference after the 9/11 attacks to the terror-fighting doctrine appeared September 30 in an op-ed by political scientist Neal Coates.<ref>{{cite news |last=Coates |first=Neal |title=The Bush Doctrine: New Policy to Ensure Our Safety Must Be Examined |url=http://texnews.com/1998/2001/opinion/bush0930.html |newspaper=Abilene Reporter News |date=September 30, 2001 |access-date=2009-11-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716213046/http://texnews.com/1998/2001/opinion/bush0930.html |archive-date=July 16, 2011 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

This policy was used to justify the invasion of Afghanistan in October 2001,<ref name="NYT_Weisman_20020413" /> and has since been applied to U.S. military action against [[al-Qaeda]] camps in [[War in North-West Pakistan#Intensified US. strikes|North-West Pakistan]].{{Citation needed|date=September 2008}}