Police failed but given the circumstances could there have been another outcome?

There is much comment and analysis this morning over the De Menezes verdict.

For the Telegraph,De Menezes died because of failures at the top of the Met

an inquest jury returned an open verdict, which was the correct one in the circumstances. It could have found that Mr de Menezes was lawfully killed, but this was hard to justify given the litany of mistakes that led to his death at Stockwell station on the London Underground.

The Guardian says that

Officers had every reason to fear for the lives of the public, to say nothing of their own. Those who have not faced similar pressure do not know how they would react, making it hard for them to sit in judgement.

but adds that

Coming on top of the failings exposed when the Met was prosecuted on health and safety grounds, yesterday's findings are damning. In arguing that the killing was lawful, the police have insisted throughout that they did nothing wrong. Their account has been found wanting, but no automatic consequence flows from an open verdict. The anxiety is that the lessons will not be learned.

The Independent calls it Reckless, incompetent and lethal policing

the conclusions of the 10 jurors yesterday could scarcely have been more damning of the conduct of the police, both during this disgraceful affair and subsequently. The open verdict returned by the jury represents an emphatic rejection of the police case that Mr de Menezes was lawfully killed.

But in the Times David Aaronovitch argues that The jury was too harsh in its judgment of police action at Stockwell

if we imagine to ourselves that there will be a way of avoiding such a tragedy again under similar circumstances, then we are deluding ourselves.