[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 161 (2015), Part 3]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages 4497-4498]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO HENRI DUYGULU

                                 ______
                                 

                            HON. PETE OLSON

                                of texas

                    in the house of representatives

                       Wednesday, March 25, 2015

  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 them with my House colleagues.
  Henri Duygulu attends Dawson High School in Pearland, Texas. The 
essay topic is: select an important event that has occurred in the past 
15 years and explain how that event has changed our country.

          How The September 11 Attacks Has Changed the Country

       Thirteen years ago the terrorist attack of 9/11 on the Twin 
     Towers and the Pentagon affected the United States of America 
     greatly. Four main points were affected--first nearly a 
     decade of war, deportation and importation, transportation, 
     and the National Security Advisory (NSA).
       Within under a month the United States (US) deployed US 
     troops into Afghanistan and within 2 years after in Iraq. The 
     war became harder to gain the public's approval because in 13 
     years the US government spent around 42 billion dollars and 
     between 2001 and 2011, nearly 2 million troops were deployed 
     to Afghanistan or Iraq. In that time, more than 6,000 
     American troops were killed, and roughly 44,000 wounded. Of 
     returning service members, more than 18 percent have post-
     traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) or depression, and almost 20 
     percent reported suffering from traumatic brain injury (TBI) 
     during deployment.
       After 9/11 the Bush administration created the Department 
     of Homeland Security in 2002. The Department of Homeland 
     Security was meant to strengthen the US borders. After US 
     Immigration and Customs Enforcement deportations nearly 
     doubled. About 400,000 immigrants were being deported 
     annually per year; only half had been convicted of a criminal 
     crime. As you can see after
     9/11 it was much harder to become a US citizen or even get 
     into the country due to more security for the citizens.
       The transportation industry had a huge impact on airports 
     due to the hijacking of the planes directed at the towers and 
     Pentagon. Back before the attack people could show up 30 
     minutes before their flight and walk through security without 
     identification. After the attack airports became much more 
     secure security-wise. To get threw an airport now a days it 
     takes over an hour going through many checks and having to 
     follow countless rules and in some cases getting patted down 
     or arrested. Not only aviation was effected, leaving through 
     the US borders requires a passport now and you get fully 
     inspected. The country became safer after these changes, but 
     made travel harder.
       Over the years, mini rumors have been said about the NSA. 
     All of this traces back to the attacks on 9/11. 9/11 was the 
     first terrorist attack on US soil and the attack devastated 
     the country and it helped us realize that there were a lot of 
     holes in our security and that a lot of people wanted to kill 
     us. Because all these factors added up, the NSA watches over 
     very carefully looking for threats within the country. The 
     government funded the NSA 52.6 billion dollars in 2013 to use 
     spy agency's to look through media and communication. Some US 
     citizens find this scary, but in the long run who cares if 
     the government knows a secret of yours? They are using it to 
     keep us safe.
       Through these points, I have shown evidence of how the 
     attacks of 9/11 have

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     changed our country, some for the better some for the worse.

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