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Who really said it

Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists

Spoken by George W. Bush Born 6 July 1946 · 43rd President of the United States (2001–2009)
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Bush said this verbatim in his Address to a Joint Session of Congress on 20 September 2001, nine days after the September 11 attacks. The full sentence — “Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists” — appears in the official White House transcript.

Last verified 16 Jul 2026 · how we verify · spot an error?

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“Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists” — George W. Bush, Address to a Joint Session of Congress, 20 September 2001 · Verbatim: “Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make. Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists.”

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In context

Evoking the world of George W. Bush — 43rd President of the United States (2001–2009). Theme: "Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists". Atmospheric and restrained, cinematic directional light, a muted period-appropriate palette, fine grain and texture. Compose with generous empty space for the quote and a small credit line. No lettering in the image itself.

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Provenance

The source

Speaker
George W. Bush, 43rd U.S. President
Work
Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People
Date
20 September 2001
Setting
U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C., nine days after the 9/11 attacks

And 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.

The line as delivered from the rostrum of the House chamber; the surrounding sentences are quoted here to show it in context.

White House archive: full transcript of the 20 Sept 2001 address

How we verified it

  • The official White House transcript records the exact sentence in the speech Bush delivered on 20 September 2001.
  • Wikipedia’s article on the formulation confirms Bush used these words in his address to Congress and traces the “with us or against us” rhetorical device back through Lenin, Mussolini and the Gospels.
  • A separate, later Bush line — “You’re either with us or against us in the fight against terror” — comes from a 6 November 2001 news conference with President Chirac, and is frequently blended with the September line.
Public domain

The speech is a work of the U.S. federal government, prepared and delivered by the President in his official capacity, and so carries no copyright under 17 U.S.C. § 105 — it entered the public domain on delivery in 2001. (Unlike an ordinary 2001 book, which would be in copyright.)

Rights status is our research, not legal advice — and copyright varies by country and edition. For commercial or published use, confirm with the rightsholder. See terms.

Fact-check

A genuine quote — but often garbled

The attribution to Bush is correct. The confusion is over which words he used, and whether the idea was his.

“You’re either with us or against us” conflated

Bush did say a “with us or against us” version — but at a 6 November 2001 news conference with Jacques Chirac, not in the September address. People routinely merge the two into a single half-remembered line.

Lenin, Mussolini, the Gospels much older device

The either/or framing long predates Bush: “Whoever is not with me is against me” appears in Matthew 12:30 and Luke 11:23, and versions were used by Lenin and Mussolini. Bush’s phrasing was his own, but the rhetorical move was ancient.

The specific sentence — “Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists” — is authentically Bush’s, spoken in his 20 September 2001 address to Congress.

Context

Why it mattered

Delivered nine days after the September 11 attacks, the line put every government on notice that neutrality would be treated as complicity. It became the rhetorical cornerstone of the “War on Terror” and framed the coalition-building that led to the invasion of Afghanistan.

Critics seized on it as a textbook false dilemma — erasing any middle ground — while supporters saw a necessary clarity in a moment of crisis. Either way, it defined the tone of U.S. foreign policy for a decade.

Every nation, in every region, now has a decision to make.

Explore

Filed under

More provenance-checked quotes on the same theme, each with its reuse status.

Power Justice

Go further

Dig deeper

Trusted places to keep pulling the thread — primary archives, fact-checks, and scholarship. We show how we used each one before you leave.

Full transcript (White House archive)georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov

The official primary-source transcript of the 20 Sept 2001 address containing the exact line.
Address on the U.S. Response to the Attacksmillercenter.org

The University of Virginia Miller Center’s archived transcript and recording of the speech.
CNN transcript of the addresscnn.com

Contemporaneous news transcript of the 20 Sept 2001 speech.
‘You are either with us, or against us’en.wikipedia.org

Encyclopedia article on the formulation, its Bush uses, and its long history.
‘With us or against us’ news conferencecnn.com

The 6 Nov 2001 Bush–Chirac news conference where the commonly-conflated variant was said.

The author

About George W. Bush

George W. Bush

Born 6 July 1946 · 43rd President of the United States (2001–2009)

George Walker Bush served as the 43rd President of the United States from 2001 to 2009. His presidency was defined by the response to the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, which launched the “War on Terror,” the invasion of Afghanistan, and the 2003 Iraq War. This line, delivered to Congress nine days after 9/11, became one of the most quoted — and most debated — sentences of his tenure.

For writers & researchers

Cite this

Primary source — Chicago

George W. Bush, “Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People,” U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C., September 20, 2001. Transcript, White House Office of the Press Secretary.

MLA (9th ed.)

Bush, George W. "Address to a Joint Session of Congress and the American People." 20 Sept. 2001, U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C. White House Office of the Press Secretary, georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010920-8.html.

APA (7th ed.)

Bush, G. W. (2001, September 20). Address to a joint session of Congress and the American people [Speech transcript]. White House Office of the Press Secretary. https://georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2001/09/20010920-8.html

This verification page

Quotle.info. “Who really said ‘Either you are with us, or you are with the terrorists’?” Last verified 16 Jul 2026. https://quotle.info/who-said/either-you-are-with-us-or-you-are-with-the-terrorists/

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