Australian Screen

Teacher’s notes

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This clip shows Dr Doug 'Rocky’ Rokke alleging that his exposure to depleted uranium (DU) used in weapons in the first Gulf War is killing him. Rokke led a team sent to the Gulf to confirm the destructive power of DU weapons and collect contaminated tanks. Rokke concludes that there is no safe way to handle these weapons or their after-effects. He believes that the US military has downplayed the risks associated with DU and argues that thousands of people exposed to DU during the War now have fatal illnesses. Charred corpses are shown and the clip includes footage from the first Gulf War.

Educational value points

• The clip discusses an aspect of the first Gulf War, which was fought between Iraq and a US-led force of 30 countries, including Australia. In August 1990 Iraq, led by President Saddam Hussein, invaded and annexed Kuwait, which it accused of illegally pumping oil from neighbouring Iraqi oil fields. After Iraq failed to meet calls from the United Nations (UN) to withdraw, the UN-sanctioned force invaded Kuwait in January 1991 and liberated the country in 4 days. The main battles involved aerial and ground combat in Iraq and Kuwait. A ceasefire was declared on 28 February 1991.

• The clip reveals how depleted uranium (DU) weapons were used for the first time in the first Gulf War, and how they contributed to the success of the US-led force. The USA fired 320 tons (290,300 kg) of DU projectiles. DU is what remains after highly radioactive isotopes (which are used in nuclear weapons or as fuel for nuclear reactors) are removed from natural uranium. It is 1.7 times denser than lead, and munitions with a DU tip or core, such as tank shells and missiles, can penetrate tanks and concrete. DU was also used in armour-plated vehicles.

• Dr Rokke describes what happens when DU hits a tank. On impact up to 70 per cent of the DU round erupts into a burning cloud of vapour that contains microscopic uranium oxide particles. The DU creates red-hot fragments that scatter within the tank, injuring those inside and igniting fuel and ammunition. The residue of the uranium oxide particles contaminates the surrounding area and can be carried for hundreds of kilometres downwind. DU is mildly radioactive in solid form, but these particles can easily be inhaled and absorbed into the human body.

• Dr Rokke claims that exposure to DU can be lethal. Campaigners against DU believe it poses a health hazard as both a radioactive substance and a toxic heavy metal. Microscopic, dust-like DU particles (formed when shells impact and burn) that are inhaled may lodge in the lungs, bones and kidneys, and damage cells and organs through radiation or toxic effects. DU may cause damage to kidneys, damage to the respiratory, reproductive and immune systems, genetic mutations and various cancers, including lymphoma. It has been linked to the mysterious and debilitating 'Gulf War Syndrome’.

• In the clip the US Government is accused of downplaying the risks of DU. The Government accepts that the inhalation or ingestion of uranium may be hazardous, but claims that Gulf War soldiers were exposed to insignificant amounts of DU. Critics of DU suggest that the US Government has suppressed information about the risks of DU because DU weapons are superior to conventional weapons. The United Nations Human Rights Commission classes DU munitions as 'weapons of mass destruction or weapons with an indiscriminate effect’ that breach international human rights.

• Dr Rokke headed a team sent by the USA to investigate and recover tanks hit by DU projectiles in the Gulf War. According to the US Department of Defense, DU-friendly fire and accidental fire incidents contaminated a total of 31 US combat vehicles (16 tanks and 15 armoured vehicles). These incidents, and the resulting clean-up and recovery operations, exposed a number of coalition soldiers to DU. As leader of the clean-up team, Dr Rokke was exposed to DU. DU weapons were also used in conflicts in Bosnia, Serbia and Kosovo during the 1990s and in Afghanistan in 2000–01.

• Blowin’ in the Wind is an example of an expository documentary, a style of documentary that addresses the viewer directly, usually with an authoritative commentary that presents a particular perspective or advances an argument. The filmmaker, David Bradbury, made the film because he believes that weapons testing carried out by the USA in Australia will expose Australians to the dangers of DU. The film is unapologetically one-sided, for example, in this clip no time is allocated to arguments that counter or challenge Dr Rokke’s view.

• David Bradbury is an acclaimed Australian documentary filmmaker. Since his first film, Frontline (1980), a portrait of Australian news cameraman Neil Davis, Bradbury has earned an international reputation as a filmmaker of great conviction who is prepared to go to great lengths for a cause. Many of his films deal with issues relating to political oppression and environmental destruction. The title of this film refers both to the 1963 Bob Dylan protest song 'Blowin’ in the Wind’ and the fact that uranium oxide particles are spread by the wind.