Fleur - The RAF did not use the Harrier in GW1 . It was blooded over the years in various other Operation 'this and thats' which seem to have sprung up in the 1990's. The second Gulf War saw the Harrier see action . Whether it's the wonderful machine that people believe remains to be seem. Certainly it's ideally suited for systems integration but weight is always going to be an issue. As for the much vaunted ability to deploy anywhere - it's pretty much a myth that anyone is really going to want to field deploy with the type if they have the opportunity to deploy somewhere with long runways and good security instead.
Interestingly the U.S is exploring the servicability of a wide range of types which were developed either during or just after the Vietnam war.
Fighting a fairly unsophisticated puts the onus decidedly on pilot survival and not on stealthy first strike ability. The years ahead will see interesting choices for our future combat aircraft the Harrier is carrying out a role which is incredibily similar to what the Hunter FGA.9 did in the 1960's in the Middle East - whether the demands for weapons advancements is that valid when
survivability to small arms fire is a major issue remains to be seen.
In terms of the Harrier itself - it would be far nicer to have a twin jet with greater endurance and payload but we havn't .It's very much a British case of having to make the best of what we have!