Peace Jam, a local organization, brings together youth from all over the world with Nobel Laureates. The Ten Year Anniversary Conference is occurring now in Denver and bringing together the largest group of laureates ever to gather in the U.S.

From the Denver Post:

Visions of peace
War on terror blind to its causes, Nobelists caution
By Jennifer Brown and Eric Gorski
Denver Post Staff Writers
DenverPost.com

The largest gathering of Nobel peace laureates ever on U.S. soil took a sharp political turn Saturday when several prize winners denounced U.S. foreign policy and President Bush while urging U.S. and Israeli leaders to open lines of communication with terrorist groups.

"You are some of the most incredibly generous people," Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa told an audience of 7,000 at the University of Denver's Magness Arena. "Your philanthropy is fantastic. How about exporting your generosity instead of your bombs?"

The man who helped abolish apartheid in his native country echoed advice offered earlier in the evening by fellow laureate Betty Williams, who sought to end the violence in Northern Ireland: "Take your country back!"

As part of this weekend's PeaceJam youth conference, the Nobel winners unveiled a United Nations-style "global call" to fight what they identified as the core evils of the world - poverty, racism, a lack of clean water, the degradation of the environment and the obsession with nuclear weapons.

The failure to address those evils, they said, are the root causes of suicide bombers and hijackers of airplanes.

Many of the laureates criticized the American government for spending so much on "instruments of destruction" instead of building schools or feeding the poor in other countries - ignoring more serious threats to humanity as it focuses on the war against terrorism.

Along with their public appearances, the laureates are spending the weekend inspiring 2,300 teenagers from 31 countries to create 1 billion acts of peace in the next 10 years. PeaceJam, an Arvada-based organization, runs education programs designed to teach young people conflict resolution in their own communities.

Williams, the Northern Ireland peace activist, paused during her talk to single out a PeaceJam participant sitting near the arena's rafters: a Peruvian girl working to eradicate hunger at an orphanage.

"A child of 11 has more intelligence than the president of the United States," she said, drawing cheers.

Shirin Ebadi, an Iranian judge who was the first Muslim to win the Nobel Peace Prize, said she was "very sorry about the sad events of Sept. 11" but wished that the United States had built a school in Afghanistan for each victim instead of going to war.

Ebadi also took issue with the idea that the world is in the midst of a clash of civilizations based on religion. She said political disputes are to blame, "the result of the wrong policies of politicians."

"Fundamentalism does not only belong to Islam, it exists in all religions," she said through an Farsi interpreter. "When someone claims that he has a mission from God to bring war to Iraq and kill the people of Iraq, this is a kind of terrorism and a kind of fundamentalism."

The sole American among the group, Jody Williams, recognized for her work to ban and clear land mines, said in an interview that Americans were told it was treasonous to ask "why" after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

The U.S. government has created a "no-win situation" in Iraq, Williams said. If troops withdraw, terrorists can claim victory, yet continued occupation is pointless, she said.

"They're both bad, but withdrawing the troops is probably the better of two horrible options," Williams said. "We never should have been there in the first place."

The last Nobel laureate to arrive in Denver, Costa Rican President Oscar Arias, said at a news conference Saturday that it was time for U.S. and Israeli officials to open up a dialogue with terrorism groups.

"I regret that there is not the courage or the political will to sit down and negotiate," said Arias, who won the prize for promoting peace in Latin America.

Arias criticized the U.S. and Israeli governments for saying security precludes peace when it is "just the opposite." Their logic gives power to fanatics such as suicide bombers, he said.

"The United States has declared war on terrorism ... but that is not the only threat," he said. "We are not dealing with the basic threats of humanity."

In a discussion taped for the BBC, the Dalai Lama said the United States and Israel "should not rule out" talks with Hamas and al-Qaeda and said that, in a condolence letter to President Bush after the Sept. 11 attacks, he had expressed his hope that the United States would not respond with violence. He stopped short of criticizing the president, whom he called a close friend, about the war in Iraq.

"That's his business," the Dalai Lama said with a smile, drawing laughs.

The Dalai Lama offered a one-hour, 26-minute pep talk to the attendees earlier in the day, covering questions about world peace, suicide, religion and the power of smiling.

The spiritual and political leader of Tibet said prayer was important and noted that all religious traditions teach the value of "love, compassion, forgiveness, tolerance, contentment, self- respect." He added that prayer alone is not enough to make the world a better place.

"So, listen, listen, this is good," he said. "I usually believe our action - with clear vision - is more important than prayer."

Staff writer Mark Couch contributed to this report.