veiled4allah: questions I'd like to know the answers to

Wasn't the purpose of the war on terrorism supposed to be to put al-Qa'ida out of business? Isn't that why Afghanistan was bombed and all these financial assets were frozen?

So why is it that after all of those things were done, al-Qa'ida is supposedly still alive and well and planning to carry out massive terrorist attacks, or so the government is warning us? Were thousands of Afghan civilians literally killed for nothing?

That is why I am so sceptical of the recent warnings about terrorist attacks. Something just doesn't add up here. Is it an attempt to justify more war and more taking of peoples' rights? An attempt to distract attention for the question of intelligence failures leading up to 9/11 (see what I think of that here, here, here, and here.)

I'm also worried about the safety of Muslims, especially hijabi and niqabi women, in the U.S. if this climate of fear continues. The backlash after 9/11 was bad enough.

Speaking of backlash, why is it that when ignorant people attack synagogues and Jews because of what some Jewish individuals - in Israel - did, we read all these hand-wringing articles about anti-Semitism but when ignorant people attacks mosques and Muslims because of what some Muslim individuals - the hijackers - did, nobody worries about Islamophobia? It's the same thing, you know.

And speaking of Islamophobia, why is it OK in this country when neoconservative and Christian fundamentalist commentators call Islam "evil" and spew hate about Muslims, but if they used those exact same words about members of any other religion or an ethnic group, they would be scorned and rejected as racists and xenophobes? Why the double standard?