Tbone - great points. I'm short of time so please forgive my short response.

A couple counter points:
1. Money is limited. We gotta put out the biggest fires first, regardless of what is on the horizon. Perhaps there's room for both, but I don't know.
2. Deterrence doesn't work against nationless rogue groups. Somali pirates don't give a crap about our nuclear submarines. North Korea doesn't care about our Nukes. F-22s won't make Hugo Chavez or Al Qaeda change their ideology.
3. We don't know what tomorrow's conflict will look like - I completely agree. That's why we need F-22s and F-35s, CSAR helicopters, UAVs, etc. We need a mix, and although 180 F-22s isn't a perfect mix, it's an acceptable mix given the environment we're in right now.