If the Iberia incident had been a 737 and both pilots had pulled full back, the result would not have been a hard landing. It would have been a conventional stall, spin, splat!
The GF 072 aircraft was functioning perfectly and did exactly as its pilot commanded it to do. The fact that the pilot commanded a totally inappropriate flight path is a different matter entirely. A 2-second aft-stick input does not miraculously 'recover' the aircraft; it merely lessens the angle of dive by a corresponding amount. Again, the aircraft did what it was told to do.
Seriph, with your desire to fully automate every aspect of flight, please enlighten me as to how the aircraft is going to perform your 'auto-takeoff, auto-approach and autoland' at a field where there is no landing aid, or when the glideslope is knocked out during a storm, or when you need to do a visual circling off an ILS to a different (non-equipped) runway..... And fyi, yes, I do fly A320 and A340 into fields exactly like these.
Much has been written since that sad night nearly 2 years ago. I believe the report is accurate, and damning. It is, however, indicative of the Company culture and mindset at the time. GF believed for too long that 'it would never happen to us'. Then it did. Much has changed since then, but the cost has been extremely high.