WE can still hope Zawahiri knows nothing - that he isn't using oxygen - I don't know how we'll be able to identify, forensically, who we (?) got in the 'door-yard' call in Pakistan last week - it was a long range calling card and we don't have ownership of the ground, per this from the Long War Journal: (http://www.longwarjournal.org/archives/2008/02/egyptian_al_qaeda_le.php)
While the identities of those killed in the latest strike in South Waziristan are still being sorted out, the nationality of some of those killed is known. Anywhere from eight to 13 al Qaeda and Taliban were reported killed in the strike. Dawn reported four Arabs, two Turkmen, and two Pakistanis from Punjab province were killed. Local Taliban cordoned the area and immediately buried the bodies, which were said to have been badly burned and mutilated.
This would be a good reason there's been such a black out -
and this: The presence of Arab al Qaeda operatives in Azam Warzak has led to speculation that a senior al Qaeda figure may have been killed. "An al Qaeda fugitive from Egypt" was reported to have been among those killed, The Nation reported. This has raised the hopes that Ayman al Zawahiri, the Egyptian-borne second in command of al Qaeda, was among those present during the strike.
WE can hope. The release of a book by Zawahiri is not evidence of his being alive...we can hope really hard...
There are reports that the al Q leaders are now scurrying out of Dodge for safey to Uzbekistan and the the Caucuses. That would, potentially cut down on the forces available to fight with the Taliban?