ABCDE
Mostly sunny. 82/65 • Tomorrow: Thunderstorms. 82/54 • details, B10
Scientists envision devastation for gulf
Much is still unknown, but ‘loop current’ could take spilled oil all the way to N.C.
by Joel Achenbach
The urgent question along the pollut- ed Gulf of Mexico: How bad will this get? No one knows, but with each day that the leaking oil well a mile below the sur- face remains uncapped, scientists and energy industry observers are imagining outcomes that range from bad to worse to worst, with some forecasting a calami- ty of historic proportions. Executives from oil giant BP and other energy com- panies, meanwhile, shared their own worst-case scenario in a Capitol Hill meeting with lawmakers, saying that if they fail to close the well, the spill could increase from an estimated 5,000 barrels a day to 40,000 barrels. Three scientists in separate interviews
Tuesday said the gulf’s “loop current,” a powerful conveyor belt that extends about 3,000 feet deep, will almost surely take the oil down through the eastern gulf to the Straits of Florida, a week-long trip, roughly. The oil would then hang a sharp left, riding the Florida Current past the Keys and north again, directly into the Gulf Stream, which could carry it within spitting distance of Palm Beach and up the East Coast to Cape Hatteras, N.C. For the moment, the oil flowing from the blown-out well in what the industry calls Mississippi Canyon Block 252 is still many miles north of the loop current. A three-day forecast by the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Ad- ministration does not show the oil and the current crossing paths. But Robert Weisberg, an oceanographer at the Uni- versity of South Florida who has been monitoring the situation, said a new fila- ment of the current is reaching toward the oil slick. “The loop current is actually going to the oil, versus the oil going to the loop current,” Weisberg said. The crisis in the gulf is shot through with guesses, rough estimates and murky figures. Whether the oil blows onshore depends on fickle winds. This oil slick has been elusive and enigmatic, lurking off the coast of Louisiana for many days
gulf continued on A6
Obama must toe the line between two crises. A8
Booms to contain oil are suddenly a hot commodity. A4
TUESDAY, MAY 4
FBI agents and local police remove potential evidence from the Bridgeport house (right) where Shahzad was living.
SOURCE: Staff reports,
Orkut.com, photos by AP SPENCER S. HSU AND KAREN YOURISH/THE WASHINGTON POST
WEDNESDAY, MAY 5, 2010
53 hours, 17 minutes
The time it took from when an SUV packed with a homemade bomb was spotted to the moment of the suspect’s arrest.
SATURDAY, MAY 1
6:28 p.m.
Cameras capture image of 1993 Nissan Pathfinder (right).
6:30 p.m.
T-shirt vendor and others alert police about smoke coming from car.
6:34 p.m.
Police evacuate Times Square.
7 p.m. to 3 a.m. Sunday
Police bomb squads dismantle the bomb components inside the car and take them to a bomb-disposal facility in the Bronx.
Contents found:
SUNDAY, MAY 2
Clocks Gas cans
Fertilizer
by Jerry Markon and Spencer S. Hsu
Propane tanks
crackers
6:45 a.m.
Authorities trace a tailgate decal sticker to a used-car dealer in Bridgeport, Conn. The owner turns over records of two cars he sold matching the Nissan’s description.
8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Police recover the Nissan’s vehicle identification number from the engine block and confirm it with the number located elsewhere on the vehicle. Investigators track down the registered owner, who says his daughter sold the car on Craigslist for $1,300 cash.
Sunday afternoon to Monday morning
Authorities trace a number in the Nissan buyer’s e-mail to a disposable cellphone. Investigators were able to uncover the caller’s identity by tracking who he called and where he called from. Using federal databases, they find a photograph of the suspect and confirm the match with the Nissan’s seller.
MONDAY, MAY 3
12:30 p.m.
Faisal Shahzad’s name is placed on the government’s no-fly list.
A photo of Faisal Shahzad from a social networking web site.
6:30 p.m.
While en route to New York’s John F. Kennedy International Airport, Shahzad books a reservation on Emirates Airlines Flight 202 to Dubai.
7:35 p.m.
Shahzad arrives at JFK and uses cash to pay for his ticket. Because of the late reservation and method of payment, the airline sends an alert to U.S. officials, but no system prevents him from getting a boarding pass.
10:40 p.m.
Emirates sends a late batch of passenger manifest data to U.S. Customs and Border Protection, which sees a “lookout” alert for Shahzad because of his nomination to the no-fly list.
11:02 p.m.
Plane door is shut.
11:45 p.m.
Agents take custody of Shahzad aboard the plane.
Fire-
Federal investigators focused Tuesday on the possible involvement of the Paki- stani Taliban in the failed Times Square bombing as they pieced together clues and charged a suspect who was pulled off an airplane as he headed to his native Pakistan, according to court documents and law enforcement sources. Faisal Shahzad, a 30-year-old U.S. citi- zen arrested late Monday at John F. Ken- nedy International Airport, admitted his involvement in the plot, authorities said, and told FBI agents he received bomb- making training in a region of Pakistan known as a militant hotbed. Shahzad, who became a naturalized citizen last year, is from a military family in Paki- stan, where he spent five months before returning in February to his home in a leafy, quiet neighborhood of Shelton, Conn.
THE SUSPECT
Shahzad abruptly left his life in U.S. to go to Pakistan
by Greg Miller and Mary Beth Sheridan
Before he was accused of building a bomb, Faisal Shahzad had disassembled his American life. In June, he abruptly quit his job as a fi- nancial analyst. The three-bedroom, two-plus-bath house he shared with his wife and two children in Shelton, Conn., was put on the market. The young family that neighbors often saw playing outside was suddenly gone. When Shahzad resurfaced in the Unit-
ed States in February, it appears to have been with a new purpose. He ignored the foreclosure filings of his mortgage lend- er, and, according to authorities, spent his money on a prepaid cellphone, tanks of propane and a used car. Many details surrounding Shahzad’s
alleged attempt to bomb Times Square are hard to reconcile. Why would some- one who spent a decade pursuing U.S. citizenship seek to bomb an American landmark and flee the country within a year of being naturalized? How could someone with a degree in computers, who authorities say admitted receiving
suspect continued on A9
Heartbreaking finish for U-Va. romance
Ex-boyfriend slammed woman’s head into wall, police say
by Steve Yanda, Daniel de Vise and Jenna Johnson
charlottesville — This is how po- lice say the story ended: George Huguely kicked through Yeardley Love’s bedroom door early Monday. They fought. He grabbed her and shook her, slamming her head repeatedly into the wall. He seized her computer, the one on which she’d read his angry e-mails. Then he left her lying facedown on a pillow that would soon be soaked with her blood. The details that emerged Tuesday — from friends, relatives, fellow students and Huguely’s account of the attack, de- scribed in a police affidavit — reveal that the two lacrosse players in the University
of Virginia murder case seem as differ- ent as his grizzled mug shot and her radi- ant class picture. Love, friends and a relative said, was a caring soul who became romantically in- volved with Huguely, a young man with a temper and at least one alcohol-fueled episode of violence with a police officer. He received a suspended sentence after a drunken scuffle with a female Virginia police officer in November 2008. “She had a great future,” said Granville Swope, Love’s uncle. “And this guy has robbed her.” In the beginning, they must have seemed twin souls: children of privilege from the lacrosse fields of affluent sub-
u-va. continued on A14
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Probe’s focus shifts
to Pakistani Taliban
SUSPECT CHARGED IN FAILED BOMBING
30-year-old immigrant said to be cooperating with officials
His reported confession, combined with a series of phone calls he received from Pakistan after purchasing the Nis- san Pathfinder used in the attempted bombing, has led investigators to zero in on the Pakistani Taliban connection as “a leading theory,” a federal law enforce- ment official said. “It’s a leading line of inquiry,” said the
official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the international probe is in its early stages. “There are only a few organizations in Pakistan that could provide training, and the Paki- stani Taliban is . . . one that has an ax to grind with us.” Pakistani Taliban claims of responsibility for Saturday night’s at- tempt, which investigators had played down, are being reevaluated, said the of- ficial, who added that al-Qaeda involve- ment “is a leap at this point.” The focus on a group that had been
bomb continued on A8
THE THREAT
Counterterrorism system continues to raise questions
by Karen DeYoung and Anne Kornblut
The Obama administration Tuesday
praised law enforcement officials who responded to and dismantled a car bomb in New York City last weekend and arrested a suspect late Monday. But the fact remained that Faisal Shahzad was allegedly able to train with terrorists in Pakistan, return to the United States to assemble a car bomb in Connecticut and park it in Times Square without anyone in the nation’s vast counterterrorism ap- paratus knowing anything about it. Senior administration officials cited
two instances in which the system could have worked more effectively, both of them after the bomb was found. On Monday night, sometime between the FBI’s discovery of Shahzad’s identity and whereabouts and his removal from an Emirates airline jet that was about to de- part from John F. Kennedy International Airport, agents “lost him,” one official said. “It does beg the question why he
wasn’t apprehended before arriving at the airport or boarding the plane,” the
system continued on A8
Greece’s debt crisis deflates stock rally
Wall Street indexes fall 2% as the bailout abroad fails to boost confidence
by Dina ElBoghdady and Renae Merle
Fears that the Greek debt crisis might spread to other European countries — and perhaps across the Atlantic — pum- meled U.S. stocks on Tuesday, just as in- vestor confidence was building that the worst of the economic crisis was over. The markets suffered their worst day
since February as the Dow Jones indus- trial average and the Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index both fell more than 2 percent. The sell-off comes on the heels of an
upbeat period marked by stronger-than- expected profits for many U.S. companies
INSIDE
FOOD 1
High-stakes tomatoes
A new variety could be the antidote to perennially disappointing supermarket specimens. E1
STYLE
A mad-for-TV event
A Redskins cheerleader is reunited with her Marine husband. Who could be angry about that? C1
BUSINESS NEWS ......A15-18 CLASSIFIEDS .....................F1 COMICS ..........................C8-9
EDITORIALS/LETTERS...A20 FED PAGE.........................A19 GOING OUT GUIDE..........C10
LOTTERIES ........................B6 MOVIES..............................C7 OBITUARIES...................C7-9
STOCKS............................A18 TELEVISION.......................C6 WORLD NEWS...........A10-12
METRO
Suspects’ long rap sheets
Chat’s dangers: Betts may have met his killer on the phone. B1
The three 18-year-olds charged with murdering D.C. principal Brian Betts are no strangers to the criminal justice system. B1
POLITICS
Coats wins primary
Republicans in Indiana reject “tea party” opposition and nominate former senator Dan Coats for his old job. A7
A tainted tea party? The movement battles perceptions — apparent in a new poll — that it is based partly on racism. A3
Printed using recycled fiber
DAILY CODE
Details, B2
1950
1
SPORTS
Strasburg moves up
The Nationals’ 21-year-old pitching phenom heads to Class AAA Syracuse — and could join the team in Washington in June. D1
The Washington Post Year 133, No. 151
CONTENTS© 2010
and favorable reports about consumer spending, housing and manufacturing. But financial troubles in Greece and the threat to other deeply indebted European countries serve as a startling reminder of how quickly gains could unravel. “In general, the American markets
have been ignoring a series of head- winds,” said Dan Greenhaus, chief eco- nomic strategist at Miller Tabak. “To use a catch phrase, they’ve had their heads in the sand a little bit. . . . This is a reminder that this is not a fully recovered global economy.” The market turmoil reflects investor doubts about whether the Greek govern- ment can successfully impose on its peo- ple the austerity measures required un- der a $145 billion financial rescue pack- age, which the European Union and the International Monetary Fund offered Athens last weekend. Some financial ana- lysts have warned that the emergency as- sistance may not be enough to cover
World markets
S&P
(U.S.)
Down 2.4%
SOURCE: Bloomberg
Steven Pearlstein: For Greece, no easy way out. A16
Greece’s needs. Investors are also unnerved by the pos-
sibility that the E.U. and IMF could be hard pressed to come up with additional aid, perhaps hundreds of billions of dol- lars more, to stem the financial contagion if it spreads to countries such as Portugal and Spain. The IMF plans to meet Sunday to ap-
markets continued on A16
FTSE-100
(London)
Down 2.6%
DAX
(Frankfurt)
Down 2.6%
IBEX 35
(Madrid)
Down 5.4%
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