I think we will find many contributing factors associated with this accident. Of these, I think crew rest, crew procedures, and ATC staffing will be the most significant areas to look into.

Just some thoughts,
There are usually three obvious visual cues and one not so obvious for pilots to observe when taking a runway. 1.The holdshort signage for that particular runway which identifies the hold runway, 2.the runway markings, and 3.the compass heading/HSI heading once the runway has been taken. These are some pretty blatant and basic cues for even the most green of pilots. Also, the less obvious visual cue would be to simply look down the length of the runway after taking position. If it were me, I would think something was amiss when looking down the length of a 3500ft runway as opposed to a 5000+ft runway. This would become even more pronounced as you started your takeoff roll and see the end coming up fast. Not to second guess, but there had to be some point at least half way down the runway when you say "hey this is wrong...ABORT". Something somewhere broke down at it most basic point.

I personally think (just guessing) that crew rest and the "hurry up for an ontime departure" factor will come into play. I sincerely hope that ALPA will use this horrific accident (if facts come to light) to push both the FAA and the airlines to address crew rest shortcomings in the regs. Hopefully the media will jump on this as well in order to aid ALPAs cause if they so choose to take it on.

While I don't know that it is the towers responsibility to watch the aircraft takeoff, I do wonder if the rwy 26 lights were on. This would be unacceptable especially if they were NOTAMed out. Also, I thought I read that the runway itself was closed for repairs. If so, why weren’t there proper closure markings? Also, in light of this accident and others in the past, should we now require the Tower to explicitly watch every departure off of every runway for every airport (if this is not the case already)? If so, there is a definite staffing problem.

I really think there will be many players who should get the finger pointed at them, but unfortunately as with most tragic aircraft accidents we know who will get the majority of the blame.

My thoughts and prayers do go out to all who were affected by this accident.