The New York Times reports the Pentagon has egg on its face after officials had annouced the attack missions were over:

"The continued operation of American warships and warplanes in both supporting and attacking roles is evidence that, while NATO is in command, the United States military remains the partner with specific capabilities that are required for the alliance to operate effectively."

Analysis from the Washington Post argues that the U.S. presence is vital to the success of the mission in Libya, if such a thing is possible:

President Barack Obama’s insistence that NATO, not the U.S., take the lead in attacking Moammar Gadhafi’s military is exposing a hard truth about an alliance that never before fought an air campaign with the U.S. in a back seat. Even against an enemy as weak as Libya, NATO needs the backbone of U.S. might to fight effectively.

It’s not a matter of NATO’s 27 non-U.S. member countries having too few combat aircraft, pilots or bombs. The problem instead is that while some, such as France and Britain, are willing to participate fully, others have limited their roles to noncombat action, and still others have decided not to participate militarily at all.

At the same time, NATO members have been publicly squabbling among one another, with Britain and France urging the body to get more aggressive:

"British Foreign Secretary William Hague and French Foreign Minister Alain Juppe both called Tuesday for NATO to get more aggressive in Libya, and Abdel Hafiz Ghoga, deputy chairman of the Libyan National Transitional Council, urged the international community to implement a U.N. Security Council resolution that calls for 'all necessary measures to protect civilians under threat of attack."

At the same time, the situation on the ground is dismal, embodying the worst fears of players ranging from Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Gaddafi administration defector Moussa Koussa:

Clinton on March 2 said Libya may become a “giant Somalia.” NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen on April 11 raised the possibility of a Libyan 'failed state.' Moussa Koussa, Muammar Qaddafi’s lieutenant who defected last month, warned also that day of a Somalia-like collapse.

The seven-week-old uprising aimed at ending Qaddafi’s 42- year rule has pulled a coalition led by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization into Libya and split the country between the oil-rich east, controlled by rebels, and Qaddafi’s stronghold in the west. Eni SpA, the biggest foreign oil producer in Libya, said last month its worst fear was that a breakdown in authority would shut production for years.

In other words, a civil war is now a real possibility, if not already reality.

Those inside and outside Libya tend to agree:  Every day the conflict persists opens the door wider for a permanent rift, creating an unstable, lawless disaster zone.  Now, those now enmeshed in Libya must find a way to prevent that from happening.