Newspaper columnist Bill Nemitz and two Iraq war veterans with political aspirations, Adam Cote and Alex Cornell du Houx, will take part in a Bates College panel discussion about the impacts of the Iraq War at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 13, in the Keck Classroom (G52), Pettengill Hall.

Titled "Revisiting Iraq: Five Years Later" and sponsored by the New World Coalition, a student organization at Bates, the event is open to the public at no cost.

Nemitz, Cote and Cornell du Houx will discuss the war's impacts on U.S. foreign policy, the state of Maine and young voters.

Nemitz is a popular columnist for the Portland Press Herald and Maine Sunday Telegram newspapers. He has traveled to Iraq three times since 2004, embedding with units of the Maine Army National Guard and the U.S. Army Reserve.

The Maine Press Association named Nemitz and Press Herald photographer Greg Rec as Maine's 2004 Journalists of the Year for their reporting on the Guard's 133d Engineer Battalion in Iraq.

Cote is a former Democratic candidate for Maine's 1st Congressional District. He served in the U.S. Army in Bosnia and in Iraq, where he worked to rebuild schools, hospitals and other infrastructure. He created the "Adopt an Iraqi Village" program, distributing donated clothing, toys and household necessities to villages. His service in Iraq led to two Army Commendation Medals.

A graduate of Colby College and the University of Maine School of Law, he serves on the Renewable Energy and Governmental Relations Practice Group at the law firm of Pierce Atwood LLP in Portland.

Cornell du Houx grew up in Solon, where he attended Carrabec High School. As a student at Bowdoin College and an active member of the Brunswick community, he went into politics after returning from eight months of training with the U.S. Marine Corps in 2004.

He was deployed to Iraq with the Marines in 2006, stationed in Fallujah. He returned last spring to complete his degree and to continue serving the community of Brunswick. He is currently running for the state House of Representatives District 66 seat, representing part of Brunswick.