could stopping the OIL LEAK be as simple as this?

[davester]

No, it can't be as simple as that. The reason that they lost control of the well in the first place was by substituting water for drilling mud. Water does not have sufficient density or viscosity to displace oil under the very high formation pressures they are encountering.

Also, you could drop all of the world's sandbags on top of the well and the jet of oil would simply blast a pathway between them. They would offer essentially no resistance.

This stuff is basic physics.