In 2003, US troops built Camp Alpha in Hilla, Iraq over a 4,000-year-old archeological site, the home of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Ishtar Gate, the Lion of Babylon and King Nebuchadnezzar’s palace. According to the Washington Post, a recently released UNESCO report reveals that that the military caused “major damage” to the ancient site. Hilltops were bulldozed into gravel parking lots for military vehicles, barriers and embankments were built, “pulverizing ancient pottery and bricks that were engraved with cuneiform characters.” Bricks were looted and among other things, “troops filled their sandbags with soil from a site that was littered with archaeological fragments.”