1) We need to see a rash of new whistleblowers actually involved in the administration of torture themselves coming out of the closet, preferrably prior to any formal investigation starting. Let this be a grassroots upswell. That would also help move the storyline from that of the abstract (the legal machinations) to the practical (the torture itself). While a Jack Goldsmith is invaluable, what he experienced and what Cheney, Yoo, and Addington have done simply has not resonated with the fury needed to counter anticipated PR counter-attacks sure to come in such an investigation.

2) Obama and his AG need to remain removed from the investigation while providing constant, public moral leadership on educating the public on our founding ideals and how they relate to torture and our foreign policy objectives. Obama is a master wordsmith, if he has the will, he can pull this off. It must however appear and actually represent the pursuit of justice, not political gamesmanship.

3) The Democrats in Congress need to stay out of it, otherwise it appears as rank partisanship. This is particularly tricky given other perceived infractions of the law by the Bush Administration, especially in the Justice Dept., EPA, and Interior Dept. where Congressional oversight and investigations need to be dealt with in the context of Executive branch investigations regarding war crimes, not to mention Congressional complicity to war crimes, from both parties. I suggest aggressively prosecuting a ranking Democratic Congress-person in the first wave if the evidence argues to their guilt, Jane Harman comes to mind. Of course that would require getting the Committee leaders as well, which will be Republican, but it does cover the stench of partisanship.