From the "Kill people, break things" file.

(CNN) -- The U.S. military did major damage to the site of one of the wonders of the ancient world while converting it into a base, the United Nations said in a new report.

The site of the Hanging Gardens of Babylon was converted into Camp Alpha shortly after the United States invaded Iraq in 2003.

With, of course, the best of intentions...

A military official said she had not seen the U.N. report, but added that one of the reasons troops set up a base at the site was to safeguard it.

Wait, I think I've heard this song before...

Tell you all a story from across the sea
'Bout a little town they call Ben Tre
Set on a river bank, peaceful as you please
Till it got caught between two ideologies…
With so much change everywhere you turn, I suppose it's a bit reassuring that the infantry's preservationist impulses remain pretty much the same.