Wow. As someone who has never operated in the US environment (nor red the report, only read Aterpster's comments) I reckon that FAA attitude to terrain avoidance responsibility is pretty poor. Why are they called "controllers" if they carry only 50% of the can if they splat you against a hill on a vector below the MSA?
If a private company had that policy/did that, they'd have their backsides sued-off in a flash.
Cop-out 101, methinks.