Military officers seldom disagree publicly with their civilian masters in the middle of a war. That fact makes Israel Defense Forces spokesman Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari’s interview on Israel’s Channel 13 news all the more noteworthy.

In a direct challenge to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who insists on the eradication of Hamas, Hagari declared, “Hamas is an idea, Hamas is a party. It’s rooted in the hearts of the people — whoever thinks we can eliminate Hamas is wrong.”

As for what to do with post-war Gaza, he warned, “If we don’t bring something else to Gaza, at the end of the day, we will get Hamas.”

Hagari’s remarks echo a lesson U.S. forces learned the hard way in Iraq: “In counterinsurgency, you cannot kill your way to victory.”

Soldiers understand the limits of military power better than the civilians who send them to war.

In 2003, the United States and its allies invaded Iraq expecting rapid success. They planned to remove Saddam Hussain, install a democratic government and withdraw soon after.

Because the Bush administration did not want to get bogged down in a protracted counterinsurgency campaign, the Pentagon did not develop an adequate post-conflict stabilization plan.

As Iraq descended into chaos, the U.S. had no choice but to create the Coalition Provisional Authority under the leadership of L. Paul Bremer III, who almost immediately disbanded the army without pay and disqualified former Baath Party members from holding office.

These decisions deprived Iraq of the civil servants needed to govern and........

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