"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing."

This was written by Edmund Burke. He was not a Democrat or a Republican. He was an English royalist and an arch-conservative. Opposing such a "triumph of evil" should have nothing to do with ordinary politics.

Stick to basics and "No Torture" reaches across political lines. From NAACP to John Birch Society. Catholics to Baptists. Muslims. Soccer fans. Cooks. All Buddhists. Even law students.

If slaughter happens

Because some are not tortured,

Well then: so be it.

Evidence. Collect the publicly available evidence on what the last Administration did. Use the seminal timeline work from DanK is Back. Follow the Federal Rules of Evidence guidelines.

Indictment. Detail the U.S. Code violations. Nothing soft, here. Get legal work done to specify which sections of the code were violated with which actions. Knowledge and thoroughness. Lawyers needed.

Petition Signup. Set up a solid petition signing system -- PetitionOnline is a good model. Validate email addresses, at least. A neutral site might be best.

Advertising. Get the voting mechanism advertised and posted around the tubes. Talk it up in classes and offices. Women get to exercise the traditional threat to withhold sex until the men go sign it. Your ordinary grassroots advertising campaign.

ACLU and kos are plausible. The John Birch Society would be a good site for a voting embed; they trumpet that the Constitution is worth dying for. Netroots is grassroots politics. Do keep in mind that this is a mainstream CONSERVATIVE political agenda item. Law & order; death before dishonor.

Evils perpetrated under the orders of the Bush Administration are well known. Torture was approved. Telephone calls were made from Vice President Cheney in the White House to individual interrogation teams, urging them to tear into the victims.

Documentation includes published papers, photographs, and sworn statements:

The "Torture Memo." August 2002 from the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel. Argues that it "may be justified" to torture al Qaeda suspects. The memo also argues that international law "may be unconstitutional" where it prohibits torture. The "Rumsfeld memo." March 2003 from a Pentagon working group. It declared not only that the American president has the power to evade international law and torture foreign prisoners but that interrogators who follow the president's commands are immune from prosecution. The Abu Ghraib photographs. Remember what they show: not just torture but guards who appear absolutely certain of their legal and moral right to torture. Large numbers of uniformed personnel stand around watching. The "Dog Handler Testimony." Two Army dog handlers assigned to Abu Ghraib submitted sworn statements that military intelligence officers told them to use dogs to frighten prisoners. The Army had said that any use of dogs in interrogations would have needed approval from the U.S. military commander.

DanK is Back got the timeline together. He also posted a separate Cheney timeline. We need to get this work together and draw up a rough for an indictment.

Asking 10,000,000 people to sign a petition is a serious matter -- it should be based on fact and on law.

Suggestions needed !! Initial contributions include:

-- Signatures:

The signature system will have to include a manual validation process. Best option seems to be posting a follow-up email. If the email goes through and the name is reasonable, count the signature.

Signature should include name, email, and zip code or a country code. Everyone on the planet should be allowed to sign up.

Signing Icons can go anywhere on the web. Target will be thousands of blogs and web sites.

-- Online positioning:

Positioning and advertising will be critical. Best, a non-profit 501(c)(3). Hopefully a sensible home can be found.

The effort deserves a logo. Suggestions are welcome.

-- Computer Technology:

These are simple programming problems that will require no more than a half-dozen pages. Different sites for different languages, worldwide, also make sense.

-- Identity and mission:

The motto can be as simple as "No Torture." The Biblical Ten Commandments were originally stated simply as "No Other Gods," "No Murder," "No Stealing," and such.

This project deserves thoroughness. The key to success is getting the Signing Icons out to a very large number of blogs and web sites.

We will target 10,000,000 signatures. If that doesn't work then we will go for 20,000,000 signatures. Then, if that does not work, we will go to 30,000,000 signatures and on from there. Feedback to The Signers will memorialize events and government response.

Ultimately, these people -- The Signers -- will matter to those in power. The original American Signers, led by John Hancock, put their names to our Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. These signers will put their names to a fundamental value of civilization, affirming the Convention Against Torture, February 4, 1985.