Washington (UPI) Jul 20, 2009 – If the Pentagon can’t figure out a way to defend the United States on half a trillion dollars a year, then our problems are much bigger than anything that can be cured by buying a few more ships and planes. So spoke Defense Secretary Robert Gates, angry with the profligate ways of both the Congress and the Pentagon. But he misspoke. With add-ons, including the Afghan war against Pakistan-based Taliban, Pakistan’s civil war against homegrown Taliban and a post-war surge of terrorist bombings in Iraq where 130,000 U.S. troops are still based outside the cities, the Pentagon’s spending for 2010 is close to $670 billion, or more than two-thirds of a trillion dollars.