VANCOUVER, British Columbia — Alpine skier Heath Calhoun will carry the flag for the U.S. Paralympic Team at the opening ceremonies of the Paralympic Games.

The U.S. Olympic Committee announced the selection of the Iraq war veteran from Bristol, Tenn., on Thursday. The opening ceremonies will be held Friday in Vancouver.

Calhoun, a retired Army staff sergeant, lost both legs above the knee while serving as a squad leader for the 101st Airborne Division.

He went through nine months of rehabilitation at Walter Reed Army Medical Center before becoming involved in Paralympic sports. He trained for skiing in Aspen, Colo.

Calhoun will join 1,300 athletes from 44 countries who will compete in alpine skiing, cross-country skiing, biathlon, curling and sledge hockey.

BAGHDAD — A police official says U.S. troops opened fire late Wednesday on a car in western Baghdad, killing an Iraqi journalist and her husband.

The official says the incident took place in the Tobchi neighborhood.

He says U.S. troops opened fire on the car of Aseel al-Obeidi and her husband but gave no further details. He spoke Thursday on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

Morgue officials confirmed the deaths.

The U.S. military did not confirm the incident but said it was investigating killings Wednesday of two Iraqis that occurred as troops were conducting security operations in western Baghdad.

Al-Obeidi worked for Dijla television, which recently closed because of financial problems.

PARIS — European governments have the right to ask Washington for explanations on the Air Force tanker tender following Northrop Grumman’s decision not to bid, the French Defense Ministry said Thursday.

“For the Defense Ministry, it is difficult to understand how an aircraft that was declared in 2008 to respond perfectly to American needs no longer meets these needs after a modification of the tender,” Gen. Christian Baptiste, deputy spokesman for the Defense Ministry, told journalists.

In its bid for the $35 billion Air Force contract to build aerial refueling planes, Northrop teamed up with EADS to offer a tanker plane based on the Airbus A330. Airbus is a subsidiary of EADS, the European defense and aerospace group, and it is headquartered in Blagnac, France.

Chicago-based Boeing has offered a converted version of its 767 airliner.

“European leaders have had the occasion to raise the problem [with the Northrop-EADS bid] several times with the American authorities, and faced with this situation, the European countries can legitimately ask for an explanation,” Baptiste said.

In other reaction to Northrop’s withdrawal from the tanker contest, EADS Chairman Louis Gallois refused to rule out going ahead with another partner on the bid, even though it was highly unlikely.

Asked on French radio station RTL if his company’s exit from the competition was definitive, Gallois said the decision had been made by its U.S partner, Northrop, which knows the U.S. market very well.

“If we want to stay in, we would have to find another American partner, because there is some extremely sensitive equipment in that plane which we can’t supply,” he said. “We need an American partner, but can you find another partner in 60 days and set up the bid? That seems highly improbable.”

Gallois said the tender terms were “biased,” as they gave a decisive advantage to Boeing’s smaller aircraft. In the absence of a competition, the American taxpayer would pay more for the tanker fleet, he said.

Asked if the protest by European governments was in vain, he said, “Let’s see. We can’t prejudice the future. Maybe the Americans will extend the competition; you never know.”

The French daily newspaper Le Figaro reported Wednesday on its Web site that French President Nicolas Sarkozy planned to raise the tanker issue with President Obama when they meet in Washington at the end of the month.

Gallois said he understood that was Sarkozy’s intention, although he had not had direct contact with the French president.

Northrop announced Monday its decision to pull out of the tanker competition, in view of what it said were terms in the request for proposals that favor the Boeing 767.

Related reading

• Gates: Northrop decision won’t delay tanker

The F-35 Lightning II strike fighter program will breach the Nunn-McCurdy limits with a cost growth of more than 50 percent from the original 2001 program baseline, said a top Pentagon program evaluator.

Christine Fox, director of the Defense Department’s Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation office, told lawmakers Thursday that the formal declaration of the breach will occur April 1.

She said the Pentagon has known of this since October. That’s one month earlier than had previously been reported.

The Defense Department’s latest estimates predict that each of the jets slated to be purchased will carry a price tag of between $80 million and $95 million in 2002 dollars. That's $95 million and $113 million in 2009 dollars, respectively.

In 2001, the Defense Department pegged the cost per Joint Strike Fighter at $50.2 million apiece for 2,852 jets. The Pentagon updated that estimate to $69.2 million in 2007 for a planned order of 2,443 jets.

The Pentagon expects to have a final estimate on the plane’s cost ready in early June, when it completes the Nunn-McCurdy re-certification package, Fox told the Senate Armed Services committee during a hearing.

Fox compared the F-35 program to earlier Pentagon aircraft that ultimately produced planes that are “valuable to DoD,” such as the C-17 and the F-22. She noted that F-22 “repeatedly failed to meet key performance, schedule and cost goals throughout its development program,” yet Lockheed Martin was ultimately able to produce “a capable aircraft.”

Ashton Carter, defense undersecretary for acquisition, technology, and logistics, said at the hearing that the Initial Operational Capability dates for the U.S. Air Force and Navy F-35 have been shifted to 2016, a three- and two-year delay respectively. The Marine Corps date remains 2012, he said.

The Marine aircraft will use Block 2 software, whereas the Navy and Air Force jets will use the Block 3 version.

Carter said Air Force Secretary Michael Donley would inform Congress of the breach within days.

DES MOINES, Iowa — Hundreds of Iowa National Guard soldiers have started receiving their payments for extended combat duty tours in Iraq.

Rep. Bruce Braley said Thursday that the first soldiers from Iowa have started to receive their respite leave benefits. Braley calls the payments “exciting and long overdue.” Braley says affected troops nationwide should receive their payments by March 19.

In Iowa, the bonuses primarily affect about 700 soldiers who served with the 1st Battalion, 133rd Infantry, based in Waterloo. The soldiers were mobilized for 22 months and returned home in July 2007.

MARINE CORPS AIR STATION BEAUFORT, S.C. — A Marine Corps F/A-18 pilot and his weapons officer tried to make it back home after both engines on their warplane failed and a fire broke out, but they were forced to eject and ditch the aircraft in the ocean, a spokesman said Thursday.

“The fire was making its way toward the cockpit, so they determined they could not make it back and they were forced to eject,” said Marine Corps spokesman Gunnery Sgt. Chad McMeen.

The accident Wednesday ended safely when the two pilots were plucked from a survival raft by a Coast Guard search and rescue crew from Charleston, McMeen said.

“It really was a miracle. They were back on land within about two hours of the incident,” McMeen said.

Neither man suffered serious injuries, but they were sent for medical evaluations as a precaution, McMeen said.

The names of the Marines were being withheld while they contact their families.

An investigation will begin into why the $29 million fighter jet suffered the engine failures.

McMeen said the Marines detected a problem while they were conducting a training mission about 60 miles off shore. The aircraft hit the water about 35 miles off the coast of St. Helena Sound, north of Beaufort.

A Coast Guard cutter has been patrolling the crash site to help locate and recover pieces of the plane, he said.

Related reading

• 2 Marine pilots rescued; SC crash probed

Bronze campaign stars recognizing the 2007-08 surge of U.S. troops into Iraq, as well as current stabilization efforts, have been authorized for wear on the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Pentagon announced Thursday.

The surge campaign phase has been established as running from Jan. 1, 2007, to Dec. 31, 2008; the second campaign star, for the phase identified as “Iraqi Sovereignty,” began Jan. 1, 2009, and will continue through a date to be determined.

Although all who have served in “direct support” in the Iraq war on or after March 13, 2003, are authorized to wear the medal, the stars recognize designated campaigns during the war.

Four previous phases had been identified, and service members who have qualified for the Iraq Campaign Medal can display a bronze campaign star on their medal for each designated campaign phase in which they took part.

The other four phases, announced previously, are: ·

• Liberation of Iraq — March 19, 2003, to May 1, 2003.

• Transition of Iraq — May 2, 2003, to June 28, 2004.

• Iraqi Governance — June 29, 2004, to Dec. 15, 2005.·

• The “National Resolution” phase — Dec. 16, 2005, to Jan. 9, 2007.

Troops should contact their respective military departments for specific implementation guidance, the Pentagon said.

The Pentagon will resume the stalled My Career Advancement Accounts spouse education benefit program as of noon Saturday, restoring tuition benefits to 136,583 military spouses who had applied for and been enrolled in the program.

However, the MyCAA program will not accept new applicants at this point, Pentagon spokesman Marine Corps Col. Dave Lapan said Thursday. “This is the first step of how the department is going to address this program.”

Whether new applicants will be accepted at some point “remains to be seen,” Lapan said, adding that the Pentagon comptroller “is working hard to fund this program.”

The program provides up to $6,000 in tuition assistance to spouses for a variety of educational programs. Tuition payments were abruptly halted Feb. 16 “due to overwhelming demand,” Lapan said.

Military spouses found out about the shutdown just as they tried to request funding for classes that were to start within a month. They could not request payment for classes for which they had already registered.

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. — A 26-year-old man accused of wearing military medals he didn't earn is due in federal court in Huntsville on Thursday for arraignment.

Skyler Tarquin Smith was indicted for allegedly pinning onto his uniform two Purple Hearts, a Bronze Star, a Combat Infantry Badge, a Senior Parachutist Badge and an Air Assault Badge.

He was also indicted on charges of wire fraud, involving a ring he said was diamond and worth nearly $350,000, though he sold it for $70,000. The buyer had it appraised and said it was valued at $13.

Smith worked for NBC Tactical, which sells government and law enforcement duty gear. Smith was also indicted for claiming to be a "service disabled veteran-owned small business," which allowed him to win government contracts for ballistic vests.

Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., a Vietnam veteran and former war correspondent who now chairs the Senate panel that oversees military personnel policy, seemed to endorse the idea of letting troops in war zones drink alcohol as a way to relieve combat stress.

At a hearing of his Senate Armed Services military personnel panel, Webb asked defense and service officials about mental health issues facing deployed service members and, in particular, about a recent Military Times investigation into the military’s use of anti-depressants and other drugs for treating mental health issues.

The reported increase in prescription drug use and self-medication by deployed troops “is, quite frankly, astounding to me,” Webb said, adding that it is a clear indicator of the overall fatigue of combat troops who are not getting enough time between deployments.

“We do have a really stressed force,” said Webb, who also is a former Navy secretary.

One thing worth investigating, Webb said, is whether a ban on alcohol consumption in the war zones — which he said is primarily a nod to host-nation sensitivities — should be lifted.

Webb said stress relief is handled differently in every culture and suggested that U.S. commanders should reconsider allowing “alcohol for stress relief.”

None of the defense or service witnesses commented on his suggestion.

Sound off

• Alcohol ban in war zones