I hate war. Absolutely, I hate war.

In this blunt, repetitive statement, Schwarzkopf separates personal sentiment from professional duty. As a career soldier and senior commander, he is often assumed to be “pro-war”; the line insists the opposite—that intimate knowledge of combat’s costs (death, injury, moral strain, and civilian suffering) can produce a deep aversion to war even in those tasked with waging it. The emphatic repetition (“Absolutely”) functions as a moral clarification: war may sometimes be judged necessary, but it is never to be romanticized. The quote also works rhetorically to claim ethical seriousness and to frame military action as a last resort rather than an expression of aggression.