Libya shows cracks in Western military co-operation

"This is the first time that the United States said, essentially, 'over to you, Europe'," said Tomas Valasek, a defence analyst at the Centre for European Reform. "The Americans have made it clear for a long time that they want the Europeans to lead in operations when they take place near Europe. In Libya, for the first time, they acted upon it." ..."We should not count on this model changing any time soon," Valasek said. "I don't see on what grounds can Europe be expecting the Americans to be leading wars of discretion on Europe's territory."