Did anyone else continue on to the second page of the article, where it mentions that the Pope is thought unlikely to ever win because the Nobel committee dislikes his stance on birth control? Hmmm. I wonder what Arafat's stance on THAT was...
While it would of course be wonderful if Bono (or most any of the Big Names cited in the article) won, I really think Wangari Maathai ('04) and Shirin Ebadi ('03) represent the sort of individual the Prize should ideally go to: international unknowns who have quietly, bravely and selflessly devoted their entire lives to the often-thankless task of making their world (or even just their country) a place where freedom, justice and compassion can flourish. There are so many unsung and unrecognized heroes around the world who have done just that--far too many of them languishing in prisons, sadly.
Bono, the Pope, Shankar and Yuschenko have all done great work for peace, no question about it. But ultimately, these men are known to us for things that have nothing to do with peace work, and have devoted most of their lives to causes other than peace. Havel may be in a somewhat different category here, but the fact that he turned a blind eye to the persecution of Roma (gypsies) during his time in power ought to make the Nobel committee at least think twice about his appropriateness.
And BTW--if they're going to nominate Bono for his work in Africa, what about Bob Geldof? He's the one who got Bono involved in the first place, and he himself has truly devoted his ENTIRE life to relief work in Africa since Live Aid.