Captain Solipsist:
You are to be commended for quoting an authoritative document.
Your point #1, however, refers to the aircraft when it is already on the
ground....not the flare and touchdown.
The Flight Crew Training Manual describes the situation....everyone have a
look, please.
Tires have cornering capability and stopping ability....but as Mu
decreases, one cannot expect tires to do both very well. In other,
words, as braking action decreases, you're going to have to accept
one or the other (cornering or braking)....and with less and less
braking action, the trade-off becomes more pronounced.
When wheel are 'crooked' (landing in a crab), you're already
at at disadvantage....cornering and braking.....
This is why the Airbus (and Boeing) procedure is to use
the rudder to align the aircraft with the runway centerline
as you begin the flare. Use some aileron to counteract
any drift downwind.
In 'strong' crosswinds, there may a problem with the above.
There may be geometric limits to 'putting a wing down'. In
that case, some crab at touchdown is to be accepted.
For the Airbus, a maximum of 5 degrees of crab, maximum of
5 degrees of wing down at touchdown. (Reference the FCTM
and the document by Captain Thierry Bourges, Experimental
Test Pilot, Airbus, entitled "Crosswind Landings"....presented
at an OLM FBW conference in 2006.)
The problem with landing in a crab is that, when you grab a
handful of reverse, you will, as Captain Solipsist so correctly
quotes, 'destabilize' the approach. In other words, the reverse
thrust vector is not aligned with the runway....and, it (the thrust
vector) will 'pull' you to the downwind side of the runway. This,
coupled with the fact that, because of the tires not being aligned
(which handicaps their ability to 'corner'), is a prescription for
a runway excursion.
Actually, in this case, Airbus hints that maybe less reverse and
more autobrakes is a better solution.
Landing with more than 5 degrees of crab, for the Airbus, risks
damaging the gear. Further, too much bank risks scraping some
metal. Again, "five and five" is the recommended max. (Ref: ibid)
Good luck, everyone.