But the lack of a clear command structure for the future, or the possibility that it won’t be NATO at the head of it, has already led Italy, Norway and Luxembourg to express reservations about their involvement in the campaign.

In addition, without a central command, exactly what kind of operations are necessary or allowable would remain subject to differing interpretations. For example, disagreements have already surfaced — between and even within nations — over whether Kadafi himself is a legitimate target under the U.N. resolution, which authorizes “all necessary measures” for protecting Libyan civilians without specifying how far that goes.

“You have a tremendous amount of indecisiveness and a lack of clarity as to the mission statement itself, because … U.N. Resolution 1973 understandably had to be written in a very fluffy manner in order to get the most amount of consensus,” Seener said. “It’s bound to create objections.”