[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 158 (2012), Part 3]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 4041]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         HONORING DANIEL CASAS

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. PETE OLSON

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, March 22, 2012

  Mr. OLSON. Mr. Speaker, I am privileged to interact with some of the 
brightest students in the 22nd Congressional District who serve on my 
Congressional Youth Advisory Council. I have gained much by listening 
to the high school students who are the future of this great nation. 
They provide important insight into the concerns of our younger 
constituents and hopefully get a better sense of the importance of 
being an active participant in the political process. Many of the 
students have written short essays on a variety of topics and I am 
pleased to share these with my House colleagues.
  Daniel Casas is a freshman at Clear Brook High School in Galveston 
County, Texas. His essay topic is: Select an important event that has 
occurred in the past 50 years and explain how that event has changed 
our country. Daniel chose September 11, 2001.

       An important event that has occurred in the last 50 years 
     was September 11, 2001. September 11, 2001, was a big 
     disaster for the United States of America. Thousands of 
     people died from this tragic event, people were scared when 
     they boarded airplanes, which were the vehicle by which this 
     much of this destruction was brought on the United States of 
     America. Islamic terrorists that were linked to Osama bin 
     laden and Al Qaeda hijacked four American airliners. The 
     terrorists crashed all four planes into different locations 
     on the east coast of America, two crashed into the World 
     Trade Center towers located in financial district of New York 
     City, one into the Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and the 
     final one crashed into a rural field in Pennsylvania. The 
     passengers on flight 93 fought to regain control of the 
     aircraft from the hijackers but did not succeed. More than 
     3,000 people in total were killed during these attacks. Most 
     of the people killed were located in the World Trade Center. 
     New York Army National Guard units were quickly called up to 
     restore order and provide disaster relief in the wake of this 
     tragedy. At the Pentagon, 74 military and civilian personnel 
     were killed. President Bush called approximately 10,000 
     soldiers up to active duty in Iran. Due to this terrorists 
     act which occurred many American's were enraged and then 
     enlisted in the military to retaliate for what the terrorists 
     had done to our country. In December 2001, more than 17,000 
     soldiers from reserve components from various home land 
     security functions were called to service. The Department of 
     Defense called this effort ``Operation Noble Eagle''. Because 
     of what these terrorists did a lot of Americans now refer to 
     all Muslims as terrorists. Due to these events the United 
     States has created more effective metal detectors and 
     improved the security around our airports, ports and other 
     points of entry into the country. The United States was 
     bought together as a nation in this great time of despair.

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