A U.S. senator and a noted expert on foreign policy will discuss the war in Iraq Saturday on campus.

Sen. Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Shibley Telhami, the Anwar Sadat Professor for Peace and Development at the University of Maryland, will discuss “The War In Iraq: A Forum,” at 10 a.m. Saturday in the Martha-Ellen Tye Recital Hall of the Music Building.

The forum is a part of the Institute on ISU World Affairs Series. Harkin, who opposes President Bush’s Iraq policies and voted against the bill authorizing $87 billion toward Iraq, will address the impact of the war in Iraq and the cost of U.S. military occupation.

Pat Miller, director of the committee on lectures, said Harkin will expand students’ perception on the Iraq situation. “We’re honored to have Senator Harkin here and it’s an incredible opportunity to talk to him about the war in Iraq,” she said. “We hope students take advantage of it.”

Telhami, senior fellow at the Saban Center, Brookings Institution, will discuss U.S. foreign policy and the roots of terrorism.

He is a former fellow of the Council on Foreign Relations International Affairs. During that time he served as adviser to the U.S. delegation to the United Nations during the Iraq-Kuwait crisis.

Telhami has been a frequent foreign policy contributor to the Washington Post, New York Times and Los Angeles Times. He is the author of several publications on international politics and Middle Eastern affairs.

“To have Professor Telhami, an expert in the Middle East, would be an incredible advantage because he has such a strong background knowledge on the religion and the politics involved,” Miller said. “He has both a political and scholarly background on the region.”