Polish President, Others Killed in Plane Crash presidential plane crash
President Obama gets a book Kosciuszko
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09-24-2009 aktualizacja 09-24-2009, 11:32
Polish President Lech Kaczynski sat next to President Barack Obama yesterday at a luncheon in New York where world leaders were gathered for the UN session of the General Assembly.
The Polish Press Agency reported: "During his meeting with Barack Obama, President Kaczynski gave him a copy of Alex Storozynski's book about Thaddeus Kosciuszko." (The Peasant Prince).
President Kaczynski expressed his disappointment over Obama's decision to scrap a plan by former President Bush to place a missile shield in Poland. The timing of Obama's announcement upset Poland and Polish Americans because it came on Sept. 17, the 70th anniversary of the Russian invasion of Poland at the beginning of World War II. Russian troops occupied Poland for the next five decades, and did not withdraw until after the Cold War.
Poles believe that the insensitive timing of this announcement shows that Obama does not understand Poland.
Kaczynski gave Obama a copy of, The Peasant Prince: Thaddeus Kosciuszko and the Age of Revolution, with an inscription from the author which said, "To President Obama, May Kosciuszko inspire you to learn more about Poland, the country whose motto is, For Your Freedom and Ours."
The Peasant Prince outlines Kosciuszko's pivotal role in the American Revolution and his efforts to spread that democratic revolution to Europe. In addition to fighting to overthrow the British monarchy in the United States, Kosciuszko championed the rights of black slaves in America, white serfs in feudalistic Europe, Jews, women, Native Americans and all people who were disenfranchised. His motto was, "For your freedom and ours."
Kosciuszko took another American President to task, for owning slaves. Kosciuszko became close friends with Thomas Jefferson, the man who wrote, "All men are created equal." After serving as a General in the American Revolution, Kosciuszko gave his salary of $17,000 from the Continental Army to Jefferson and asked him to buy slaves and free them, and to educate these free black men, and to buy them land, cattle and farming tools so they could earn a living as free "citizens."
While Jefferson took the money - he refused to carry out the deal that he made with Kosciuszko to free slaves.
Unfortunately, most Americans only know Kosciuszko as a brand of mustard, a bridge in Brooklyn, or the town in Mississippi where Oprah Winfrey was born. But he was a true American hero.
Kosciuszko joined the Continental Army in 1776, and after building forts near Philadelphia; he devised the strategy for the Battle of Saratoga - the turning point of the American Revolution.
Kosciuszko also drafted the blueprints for West Point and built the fortress that Benedict Arnold tried to sell to the British.
Jefferson said of Kosciuszko: "He is as pure a son of liberty, as I have ever known, and of that liberty which is to go to all, and not to the few or rich alone."
A firefighter works to extinguish the flames from the wreckage of a Polish government Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft that crashed near Smolensk airport Saturday.
Polish President Lech Kaczynski and dozens of others in a high-level delegation were killed Saturday when their plane crashed on landing outside the western Russian city of Smolensk, officials said.
Russian state television reported that the Tu-154 jet crashed about a kilometer short of the runway on its fourth attempt to land in heavy fog at the Smolensk-Severnyi military airport, shortly before 11 a.m. Moscow time.
Reports of the number killed in the crash varied. Polish officials put the figure at 88, while Russia's Ministry of Emergency Situations said 96 had died and Russia's Investigative Committee said the total was 132.
"We still cannot fully understand the scope of this tragedy and what it means for us in the future," said Foreign Ministry Spokesman Piotr Paszkowski. "Nothing like this has ever happened in Poland."
"We can assume with great certainty that all persons on board have been killed."
Passengers included the president and his wife as well as other top officials. Slawomir Skrzypek, president of the National Bank of Poland, was also on board. Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman Piotr Pszkowski said that the army chief of staff and Deputy Foreign Minister Andrzej Kremer were also on board the plane.
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Associated Press
Poland's President Lech Kaczynski
The plane "clipped the tops of the trees, crashed and broke into pieces," the governor of the Smolensk region, Sergei Antufiev, told Rossiya-24 television news network by telephone.
"There were no survivors."
Rossiya-24 broadcast footage of shattered and burning wreckage from the site. Russian officials said controllers at the Smolensk airport suggested to the crew that it divert to Minsk because of the fog, but the crew decided not to. Russia's official RIA-Novosti agency said preliminary indications suggested crew error was the cause of the crash. The Soviet-built Tupolev-154 jet was about 20 years old.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk was on his way to Warsaw for an emergency meeting of the cabinet Saturday.
According to the foreign ministry spokesman, the government will meet in early afternoon local time.
According to the Polish Constitution, the speaker of the Sejm, Poland's lower house of Parliament, becomes the interim head of state in case of the death of the president. The interim president is required to call early presidential elections within two weeks from the day the president dies. The elections must take place within two months from the announcement of the election date.
Bronislaw Komorowski, a key presidential candidate in the presidential elections that would normally be scheduled in the autumn, is Poland's current Sejm speaker. According to government spokesman Pawel Gras, he is also on his way to the capital.
Piotr Wiesiolek, first deputy president of the National Bank of Poland, will become an interim governor, according to Poland's central bank law. Mr. Wiesiolek will head the central bank until the Parliament appoints the new governor proposed by the President.
Mr. Kaczynski, 60 years old, was leading a delegation of top Polish officials to memorial ceremonies at Katyn, the site of a massacre of 22,000 Poles by Soviet agents 70 years ago. "The soul trembles to think that Katyn has taken new victims," said Konstantin Kosachev, chairman of the International Affairs Committee in Russia's parliament.
Russian President Dmitry Medvedev named Prime Minister Vladimir Putin to head the commission to investigate the crash and dispatched Russia's emergency situations minister, Sergei Shoigu, to the site.
Russian state television reported that the Tu-154 jet fell about a kilometer short of the runway on its fourth attempt to land in heavy fog at the Smolensk-Severnyi military airport. There were conflicting reports of casualties, with Russian media citing a figure of 180, all of whom were killed. Russia's Rossiya-24 channel reported that the plane struck treetops short of the runway after the pilot decided to land in Smolensk despite the heavy fog.
The 25-year-old plane had undergone a complete overhaul at the factory in southern Russia late last year and had been Delivered to Polish Authorities in late December, the head of the manufacturer told Rossiya-24 television.
-Halab in Warsaw Malgorzata a contributed to this article
Write to Gregory L. White at greg.white @ wsj.com
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ish president, Lech Kaczynski was killed on Saturday as his plane crashed on approach to airport Smolensk in western Russia, local officials said.
Initial reports said 132 were on board the plane but Russian officials later issued a revised death toll of 96. Polish officials told Haaretz that the crash appeared accidental and that so far there was no suspicion of a terror attack.
Poland's foreign ministry confirmed that the president and his wife, Maria, were aboard the plane. Polish state news agency PAP said there were no survivors in the crash, recorded at 10:50AM local time some 400km west of Moscow.
he Russian-built Tupolev Tu-154 went down some 1.5km from Smolensk airport in thick fog. The plane reportedly struck trees as it approached the airport and caught fire.
A Polish official said the head of the Polish army and the head of the presidential administration were also on board the plane, along with the central bank governor and other senior officials.
"The plane caught fire after the crash. Teams began attempting to pull out passengers from the badly damaged airplane," said a Polish Foreign Ministry spokesman in Warsaw.
Pilot error was a possible reason for the crash, a spokesman for the Smolensk local government said.
"The pilot was advised to land in Minsk, but decided to land in Smolensk," said the spokesman, Andrei Yevseyenkov.
The pilot was reportedly making his fourth attempt to land when the plane crashed.
But the Tu-154 also has a questionable safety record. The presidential plane was at least 20 years old. Polish officials have long discussed replacing the planes that carry the country's leaders but said they lacked the funds.
According to the Aviation Safety Network, there have been 66 crashes involving Tu-154s, including six in the past five years. The Russian carrier Aeroflot recently withdrew its Tu-154 fleet from service.
Polish sources told Haaretz that despite a recent upgrade, the Smolensk airport was not fitted with special anti-fog radar common in the West.
Kaczynski was due to visit Smolensk to mark the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, when Soviet troops killed 22,000 Poles. Planned ceremonies in Katyn were called off and attendees said they would instead pray for the victims of the plane crash
The Polish government will hold an extraordinary meeting later on Saturday, the government press office said in a statement.
Polish Justice Minister Krzysztof Kwiatkowski said he would order a special inquiry into the crash.
Bronislaw Komorowski, the speaker of Poland's parliament and a former defense minister will take over as interim president, Polish officials told Haaretz.
Komorovski had already been named as a candidate to succeed Kaczynski following elections later in 2010, which now look likely to be brought forward.
"In line with the constitution, we will have to hold an
early presidential poll," said government spokesman Pawel Gras.
Constitutionalists Say the election date must be announced Within two weeks and the election must take place Within two months of the announcement.
Kaczynski, 60, Became president in December 2005 after defeating current Prime Minister Donald Tusk in That year's presidential vote. The conservative nationalist was the twin brother of Poland
's Opposition leader, former Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski
