He was certainly the symbolic head Zarqawi and later al-Masri wanted people to see for the insurgency. As for his actual operational power, it was certainly vast, but at the end of the day I think operationally Zarqawi and al Masri were calling the shots.
But, in this war symbolism and PR is just as important as anything else. Getting the President of the Islamic State of Iraq at this point in time would totally discredit the organization and could lead to it breaking up.
". . . in this war symbolism and PR is just as important as anything else."
There is a lot of truth there. I think our biggest obstacle is apathy on the part of many, and venality on the part of the MSM.