You need to ask yourself, who else was part of the "Axis of Evil"? And one of those countries listed, N Korea, has a very very very large SAM network. And Iran, one of the other "evils", is buying Tor SAMs from Russia to put around the nuke plant russia is building for them.
http://www.defenseindustrydaily.com/2005/12/iran-buying-sa15/tor-m1-sam-systems-from-russia/index.php
It is probably one of the reasons we havent had larger aggressions with either of them, since we rely heavily on air superiority.
Regardless, I agree with D-Scythe, and hes just stating the facts. Like you said, on a carrier space is everything. Which means you need a fighter that can fill whatever role you need. The F-14D couldnt. And it wasnt worth putting more money into. Now, Im not saying that the F22 is worth putting money into, but thats the Airforce for ya. The Navy has always seemed to make better decisions in that regard.