The latest dispatch from al-Zawahiri didn't get a lot of press. You might have missed it if you were instead watching the more serious events of the world, such as the Anna Nicole drama.

But this dispatch was odd. Zawahiri is pledging allegiance to Omar. He is asking his followers to do the same.

Where's Osama? 

Rumour has it that he is in fact deceased. Presumably died of typhoid sometime around October.

Then again, it is very popular for a person being hunted to fake their own death. I wouldn't put any stock in rumours. But faking one's death usually requires at the minimum faking some evidence so that it might be believed. That's what makes this twist of events perhaps interesting. There doesn't seem to be a shred of evidence to support an untimely demise. Yet the org chart is undergoing a complete revision - and Osama isn't on it. If not dead, it should nevertheless be of moderate interest that he's apparently not the boss anymore. It's also somewhat interesting that Zawahiri has no apparent interest in being number 1. He's a cleric. A bit uncomfortable being a savage warrior, though he can still talk the talk.