Polish President, Others Dead in Plane Crash

The Polish president, and numerous Polish generals and officials have been killed in a plane crash. There were no survivors. They were on their way to Katyn, where in 1940, thousands of Polish officers were massacred by Soviet troops. The slaughter of the Poles was denied for decades by the Soviet government, and has remained a painful point of contention between Russia and Poland.

Russian president Medvedev has already announced a state investigative commission to be headed by Putin. (Gee, I feel safer already...)

A partial list of the dead includes:

* Lech Kaczyński, the President of Poland
* Maria Kaczyńska, the first lady
* Ryszard Kaczorowski, the last President of the Polish government-in-exile
* Jerzy Szmajdziński, Deputy Speaker of the Sejm
* Władysław Stasiak, Chief of the Office of the President of the Republic of Poland
* Aleksander Szczygło, head of the National Security Bureau
* Paweł Wypych, Secretary of State in the Office of the President of the Republic of Poland
* Mariusz Handzlik, Undersecretary of State in the Office of the President of the Republic of Poland
* Andrzej Kremer, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs
* General Franciszek Gągor, Chief of the Polish Army General Staff
* Andrzej Przewoźnik, Secretary-General of Rada Ochrony Pamięci Walk i Męczeństwa
* Grzegorz Dolniak, member of the Sejm
* Przemysław Gosiewski, member of the Sejm
* Zbigniew Wassermann, member of the Sejm
* Janusz Kochanowski, Polish Ombudsman
* Sławomir Skrzypek, President of the National Bank of Poland
* Janusz Kurtyka, Historian and president of the Institute of National Remembrance
* Tadeusz Płoski, Bishop of the Military Ordinariate of the Polish Army
* Izabela Jaruga-Nowacka, member of the Sejm
* Jolanta Szymanek-Deresz, member of the Sejm
* Aleksandra Natalli-Świat, member of the Sejm
* Gen. Bronislaw Kwiatkowski (Commander Operations)
* Gen. Andrew Blasik (Air Force Commander in Chief)
* Gen. Tadeusz Buk (Commander of Land Forces)
* Gen. Wojciech Potasinski (Commander of Special Forces)
* Vice Admiral Andrzej Karweta (Commander in Chief of the Polish Navy)
* Gen. Casimir Gilarski (Commander, Training)