Libya: Coalition Building

Josh Rogin over at Foreign Policy has put together a list of the countries participating in the various coalitions with the U.S. over the past generation in assorted military campaigns. Despite President Obama’s call for multilateral action, Rogin notes, Obama’s Libyan enterprise has the smallest coalition of the lot — 15 nations as of right now, compared to 1991’s Gulf War (32 nations), 2001’s invasion of Afghanistan (48 countries), and 2003’s invasion of Iraq (40 nations). Experts Rogin speaks to say the “reason Obama’s Libya war coalition has less international involvement than all the others was…due to his administration’s behavior in the lead-up to the war, its approach to multilateralism, the speed with which it was put together, and the justifications for the war itself.”