NATO’s role in Libya doesn’t get U.S. out of quagmire

Q. The US has handed the job over to NATO after about a week. Does that look like a quagmire to you?

A. Yes, it still looks like a quagmire. NATO (and not the EU or France or the UK) has agreed, with Germany abstaining, to do the no-fly zone, now that air defenses have been destroyed. But NATO has so far resisted taking the tougher job of protecting civilians on the ground. That’s still a U.S. or “coalition” responsibility. Even if NATO is eventually persuaded to take the tougher job, too, which country is the power behind NATO? That’s still us, right?