WASHINGTON: The head of US Central Command said on Tuesday that the United States was in the process of bringing air defense systems into Iraq to protect American troops in case of a potential Iranian attack. “We are also in the process of bringing air defense systems, ballistic missile defense systems, into Iraq in particular, to protect ourselves against another potential Iranian attack,” US Marine General Kenneth McKenzie, the head of US Central Command, said during a House Armed Services Committee hearing. Earlier this year, the Pentagon said it was trying to secure permission from Iraq to take Patriot missile defenses into the country to better defend US forces after Iran’s Jan. 8 missile attack.