For a former CIA intelligence officer, Richard Andrew Hall proves himself to be surprisingly captive to the lore of the Romanian revolution. That said, I am grateful to him for his dedicated search.
Earlier this year, he honored the 20th anniversary of the revolution with a paper about what really happened, or failed to happen, in the fateful month of December 1989. Among his revolutionary interests: the so-called dum-dum bullets, the role of Prosecutor Voinea, the use of exploding bullets, the assertions of Radu Nicolae, the ominous shadow of Securitate revisionism, the mysterious Dr. Belis, the perspective of Professor Andrei Firica (who also happens to be my godfather), the death of Florin Butiri, the death of Claudiu Filoti, the death of Ion-Gabriel Lupea, the death of Dan Popescu, the death of Petre Poptean, and the USLA unit.
Hall is an inexhaustible source for details. In Chapter 8 of his online book about the Revolution, he describes the evasions characteristic of Romanian military officers and Securitate members on this subject":
"There is no doubt about it. After the events of Brasov in 1987–in June 1988–Order 002600 was decreed. In this order, it was specified exactly how to organize a response to any unrest which were to take place on Romanian territory. Plans of this nature were drawn up in every county as well: which forces were to take part, who was to coordinate them, what objectives they were to watch over. You know, that one of the objectives of these plans was the army. The army had to be neutralized."
In this same interview, when asked if he did not know who the “terrorists” were, Militaru replied defiantly and unambiguously: “On the contrary, we know [well]. They were USLA men–in their entirety.” Testifying at a trial in May 1995, Militaru maintained that the significance of Order 2600 had first been related to him by Dumitru Ion Pavelescu, deputy commander of the uniformed Securitate troops in December 1989. Significantly, General Militaru observed in his testimony that “only the Interior Ministry was equipped with the special weapons with which the majority of people were killed after 22 December.”
Fans of post-communist history need look no further than Hall's webpage for the most current and up-to-date information on the Romanian Revolution. And fans of this photo taken during December 1989 should look further through the wonderful collection of 1989 Revolution photos from Camelia and Sorin Pascu.
