The White House released its official department of state response describing its position on a petition filed with https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/ asking to support the Polish Nation appeal for an international investigation of the Smolensk 2010 air crash.

 

The statement (along with the original petition) can be found here and reads as following:

 

The White House has received your petition requesting support for an international investigation of the Polish Air Force Tu‑154 crash that occurred near Smolensk, Russia, on April 10, 2010. The people of the United States share your grief over this tragedy and regret the loss of life, including that of President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria. As President Obama stated on that terrible day, "Our thoughts and prayers are with the Kaczynski family, the loved ones of those killed in this tragic plane crash, and the Polish nation. Today's loss is devastating to Poland, to the United States, and to the world." During his trip to Poland in May 2011, President Obama visited the memorial to the victims at the Field Cathedral of the Polish Military in Warsaw, and expressed his condolences to the families of those lost in the crash.

In response to your petition, we note that the Polish and Russian governments each conducted their own investigations. In conducting their investigations, Poland and Russia agreed to follow the protocols of the Convention on International Civil Aviation, which establishes the standards and recommended practices for civil aviation accident investigations. Both countries published the results of their investigations, which are available at the links below:

 

Here both Russian and Polish governmental reports are linked to which the reader is redirected.

 

The United States again expresses its deepest condolences to the Polish nation and all of the families affected by this tragedy.

--- Phil Gordon is Assistant Secretary of State for Bureau of European and Eurasian Affairs

Firstly, The White House in its response rightfully notes that the Polish and Russian governments each conducted their own investigations. It suffices to say that the petition requested support in the Polish Nations appeal for an independent and international investigation of the Smolensk 2010 air crash, free from any conflict of interests.

 

Secondly, The aircraft was a Tupolev Tu-154M belonging to the 36th Special Aviation Regiment of the Polish Air Force, tail number 101. This means that the plane was of a military status, as indicated by its name Tu154M. On April 10th 2010 the Tu-154M plane on its flight from Warsaw to Smolensk, according to Polish regulation had a flight status HEAD (information for air traffic control services that on board are one of the most important people in the country), according to the Russian legislation the flight had a irregular international flight status of category "A" (VIP). The crew of the Tu-154M plane consists of soldiers of the 36th Special Aviation Regiment of the Polish Air Force, and one officer of the Government Protection Bureau, as additional member of the cabin crew.

 

And finally, both Russian and Polish governmental reports to which the reader is redirected by the White House have been proven to be false and misleading, presumable due to their inherent conflict of interests.

 

The White House has shown that it is not only oblivious to elementary knowledge connected to the Smolensk plane crash, but that it was also not bothered enough to check elementary information, leading us to conclude that in fact the White House couldn't care less about the death of Poland's President, a country supposedly to be one of the United States closest allies. By redirecting the reader to the Russian and Governmental reports the White House accepts and promotes facts contained in them and does not care for the truth - leaving us Poles, yet again, to ourselves.

However, such a response should not come as a surprise as the petition was not backed thought diplomacy by Polish governmental officials. It is the obligation of the Polish government through its own initative to turn to its allies or NATO structures, calling for assistance and the establishment of an international team on the subject, for example, under the auspices of the NATO Parliamentary Assembly.