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It may take years before the results of NATO’s military operations against Colonel Muammar Qadhafi’s Libyan regime can finally be judged, but the issues raised by the crisis are of immediate importance. First, the way in which the operation has been conducted is a reminder of the importance to the United States of its European allies. Second, Libya offers a bad model for the future. “Coalitions of the willing” need to be led, and such leadership must come from the United States. Third, the leadership role which, by default, has fallen to Britain and France fosters damaging illusions about what can be expected of them. Without the commitment of substantially more defense resources, Britain will be unable to do more than strike a pose, and the West can least afford posing because security threats notably a rising China, a revanchist Russia, a still incorrigible Iran, and a mad, bad North Korea are real, and only strong American leadership can meet them.