America is reluctant to lead Operation Odyssey Dawn, but fractious Europe lacks the resources and faces complications, with Germany and NATO ally Turkey dragging their feet.

Forget Operation Odyssey Dawn, the name the Pentagon's semi-random name-generating computer system has allotted to America's contribution to the military campaign in Libya. Nor is Operation Ellamy, our own codename for Britain's involvement, any more relevant. The Libyan campaign should really be called The War Nobody Wants To Lead.

We've only been at war for four days, but already serious divisions have appeared within the coalition leadership over how to prosecute the campaign. It is easy to understand Barack Obama's reluctance to play a lead role in a conflict he didn't want in the first place. This was one war that America didn't want.

Britain and France may have made all the running in drumming up international support for a no-fly zone. So if London and Paris are so keen to confront Gaddafi, why don't they run the campaign? After all, it was only at the end of last year that the British and French governments signed a new defence cooperation pact, whereby they agreed to cooperate more closely on military issues. The French even agreed to allow us the use of one of their aircraft carriers – assuming, that is, we had the aircraft to fly off it.

The first problem Europe encounters when it comes to conducting independent operations is a distinct lack of military capability. When the UN imposed a no-fly zone against Iraq in the early 1990s, the RAF flew an average of one combat mission for every five undertaken by the US Air Force. The French did not fly at all because their Mirage jets had the same radar profile as the aircraft they had sold to Saddam Hussein, and were therefore in danger of being shot down by the Americans. Read full article in Daily Telegraph...