Just because somebody wrote a law saying that this one guy is responsible for everything to do with that flight doesn't mean that's how the dynamic of the system is set up. If anybody here with any 121 experience can tell me that the captain has full effective authority over that flight, I'll show you delusion.

Add to that the unrelenting repetitive nature of this job, throw in reduced rest, and all of the other factors that went into this crash, and the crew becomes more and more the victim of circumstances stacked against them. Yes, they were the ones that pushed and pulled the knobs and buttons that caused the airplane to crash, but to say that they alone are responsible for a system that requires more people outside the cockpit than in it is far too simplistic.

The crew did some things wrong, but so did the controllers, and the airport manager, and... and... and...

As with any accident, stopping any one of the many "contributing factors" would likely prevent the crash. Finding the "blame" in an accident is a fruitless adventure. All of the factors involved need to be evaluated, and procedures and training changed to prevent them in the future.