NATO operation in Libya ends after 7 months, could it be a model?

"As good a war as it comes … with limited civilian casualties," says Tomas Valasek of the CER, citing the difference with other NATO operations in precision bombing. "There were no Chinese embassies hit in Tripoli [as in Belgrade, Serbia in 1999], no refugee convoys hit, no weddings that I know about [as in Afghanistan.]"

But NATO is an institution that doesn't operate separately from the collective agreement of its members and leaders. For some in Washington, the perceived paucity of European might and resolve – only eight out of 28 NATO nations initially responded to the conflict – underscores what Mr Valasek describes as "the appearance of a weaker European partner" in NATO.