In general, the Air Force never has like the close air support (CAS) mission. For one thing, it's damned dangerous. Many AF generals have been trying to get rid of the A-10 for years. In the meantime, the Army loves that plane. If you're a grunt on the ground and are about to be overrun, especially by armor, then an A-10 is a lovely thing indeed. The fact that the Air Force doesn't like close air support is one of the big reasons why the Army has spent billions building attack helicopters.

That said, I think Jerry is probably wrong on this one. Right now, we don't have an operational air base in Afghanistan, at least not one that I know about. There isn't a base close enough to effectively host A-10 operations. The Navy and Marine F/A-18s are having to fly all the way across Pakistan to reach the battle area. They don't have a lot of loiter time on target, so it's hard for them to conduct effective CAS. Until we get a base in Afghanistan, virtually none of our primary CAS planes will be effective.

On the other hand, B-52s can hang around for a long time. They can carry a lot of bombs and other munitions. Not only that, but sometimes, you just need a really big bomb like a 2,000 pounder. Tactical planes like an A-10, F-16, or F/A-18 rarely carry bombs that large because of capacity limitations or because that would limit the number of attack passes they can make. That bomb has a large lethal radius from fragments and concussion, so dropping one anywhere close to friendly troops is very dangerous.