While TheShadow's points may be valid, they don't excuse the pilots for not even trying to point the plane's nose downwards (for the last 3 minutes). It also doesn't excuse the pilots for not realizing that the plane was in fact stalled. If it's going down at 10k fpm with nose up attitude and full throttle then, duh, it must be stalled.
If the pilots had however been pushing forward on the sidesticks and screaming about how the plane was stalled on the CVR then we can solely lay the blame on airbus design flaws. But that's not the case. I won't comment again because it is clear the pilots here will never lay the blame on fellow pilots. I'll no doubt be labelled an idiot but at least i am not an idiot responsible for the death of over 200 innocent adults and children.