A phrase that was reportedly used by the Obama White House to describe the U.S. actions in Libya as "leading from behind." The phrase has since generated much confrontation between the White House and The New Yorker magazine which published the original article describing an Obama adviser characterising the President's actions in Libya as "leading from behind." The White House has since denied ever using such a phrase.

Unlike most other U.S. led campaigns in the Arab world that toppled Saddam Hussein in Iraq and the Taliban in Afghanistan, the U.S. took a secondary role in the France led war in Libya that eventually captured and killed Muammar Gaddafi.