We are the new Nazis

Don't act all indignant and outraged, and don't give me that b.s. about how we don't exterminate millions of people. We just bomb them. Dead is dead. We disapper people. We torture people. We brainwash our own citizens with government propaganda. We perform covert and secret experiments on our own citizens. We have a petty tyrant for a leader. And we destroy civilizations.

As the US prepared to hand back the ancient ruins of Babylon to Iraqi authorities at the weekend, a leading British archaeologist claimed US-led troops had "irrevocably contaminated" a site that dates to the dawn of history.

John Curtis, curator of the British Museum's ancient near-east department, said the coalition, which had used the old city as a base since invading Iraq in 2003, had seriously compromised future scientific research at the site.

"It is regrettable a military camp of this size should then have been established on one of the most important archaeological sites in the world," he said.
  The Australian article

But that's par for the Nazi course, isn't it? Destruction of culture.

"This is tantamount to establishing a military camp around the Great Pyramid in Egypt or around Stonehenge in Britain."

Mr Curtis said entire sections of the city had been flattened and covered with gravel, paving stones that had survived 2600 years had been crushed by military vehicles, and decorative bricks around the celebrated Ishtar Gate had been cracked and dislodged by people who had tried to prise them out of the wall.

The British Museum report said U.S. and Polish military vehicles had crushed 2,600-year-old pavements in the city, a cradle of civilisation. Archaeological fragments had been used to fill sand bags, and people had apparently tried to gouge out the decorated bricks forming the famous dragons of the Ishtar Gate.

[...]

Once known for its splendid Hanging Gardens, Babylon was the capital of Babylonia, an advanced ancient civilisation that existed from about 1800 to 600 BC.

In the report, Curtis described the decision to set up a base in the area as "regrettable".

"Babylon is one of the most important archaeological sites in the world and the damage caused by the military camp is a further blow for the cultural heritage of Iraq," he said.
  Reuters article

Mission accomplished.