'It's dangerous but I'm proud' - Iraq General Tahssen talks about the war against Isis

"If I don't take care of my country, who will?", asks General Tahssen. Photo / Audrey Young

For the Iraqi general in charge of the public relations war against Isis, General Tahssen Irahim al Khafaji, it is a very personal and patriotic fight.

A former pilot under Saddam Hussein's regime, his brother, an Army captain, was killed two years ago in a battle with Isis.

One of the general's sons is an intelligence officer and another is a helicopter pilot in the Air Force and is involved in the war.

"It's dangerous but I'm proud. If not my son fighting, and my brother [dying], who will take care of my country?" he says from his office at the Ministry of Defence in Baghdad.

"If I don't take care of my country, who will take care of my country?"

He calls Isis "a disease" and expresses his gratitude that countries like New Zealand were helping Iraq to rid itself of it through training troops and helping it plan.

He said fear was not a part of his thinking and nor was it for those who remained in Iraq.

A good indication of that was the huge response to recruiting the Armed Forces College or Military College.

"You see thousands and thousands of people."

Officials were having to choose just 800 from 4500 applicants for the Army.

"Yes they need their job but the first reason is they need to feel proud in front of their family."

He was planning a trip to Mosul this week with stacks of literature to distribute to traumatised citizens on what support they can get from the Iraqi Government.

Tahssen sees a continuing role for the Coalition and the United Nations after the recapture of Mosul is completed, not just for helping to clear the area of explosive devices left by Isis, but in getting schools and hospitals running and advice to make the country less reliant on oil.

• Tahssen flew Mig 23 fighter jets but did not see much action in service. He did not take part in the Iran-Iraq war, graduating just before it ended.

In the invasion of Kuwait, the runway at Basra air base was shot up and couldn't be used.

And in the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Saddam ordered most of the Air Force planes to be disassembled and buried including Tahssen's ones at a base near Baghdad where he was deputy squadron leader.

In 2006 he became head of public affairs for the Air Force and in 2013 for the Ministry of Defence.