Collateral damage

The recent judgment against the Metropolitan Police for a catalogue of errors leading to the shooting of Jean-Charles de Menezes in a London Underground station on 22 July 2005 doesn't even touch on their botched attempts to cover themselves subsequently, by trying to blame the victim. After hearing that despite the judgment, Police Commissioner Sir Ian Blair feels no responsibility for anything his staff did or didn't do, I happened upon these lines in a book by Jose Saramago ("The Double"): "The best way to achieve a universal exoneration is to conclude that since everyone is to blame, no-one is guilty."