John,
I totally agree. There is no finer aircraft in our current (albeit imminently former) arsenal for CAS in Afghanistan IMHO and before all you GR4 fans descend on me like vultures I am talking about an enhancement to the current regime not a replacement. Personally, I think we should have bought (and negotiated a huge discount) a couple of sqns of A10s when the septics asked us to join in. But as you said, rarely has common sense prevailed...
ABTE