Nearly a week after Ayman al-Zawahiri eulogized Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Osama bin Laden turned out a video/audio tape calling Zarqawi “the prince of martyrs,” a “great knight,” “lion of jihad” and a “lion in Islam.” From the reports I have read, it was basic fanfare with tested Al Qaida-linked symbols and statements throughout the tape.

What makes this video/audio tape different is that there was one single still photograph of OBL and revolving pictures of Zarqawi, many taken from Zarqawi’s one and only video that ended up revealing his general location. OBL hasn’t appeared fully in a video since 2004 (timeline HERE).

The more sensational aspects of the video come with OBL trying to secure the body of Zarqawi, or at least those are the parts many media organizations are reporting upon.

“I say to Bush, you should deliver the body to his family, and don’t be too happy. Our flag hasn’t fallen. Thanks to God, it has passed from one lion to another lion in Islam,” bin Laden says.

“You have prevented Abu Musab from entering his homeland alive. Don’t stand in his way now.” (source)

It is Islamic law or culture to bury a Muslim within 24 hours of one’s death. That time, obviously, has passed. But OBL doesn’t want Zarqawi’s body to be returned to the Zarqawi family for that reason. He believes the funeral procession will be a show.

“What scares you about Abu Musab after he’s dead?” Mr. bin Laden said, addressing Abdullah. “You know that his funeral, if allowed to happen, would be a huge funeral showing the extent of sympathy with the mujahedeen.” (source)

There is no reason why the funeral of Zarqawi would not draw at minimum a fair number of supporters and would be seen by many as a hero’s funeral. The Jordanian government probably has asked the Bush Administration not to release the body out of security and public relations concerns. Images of a large funeral from Jordan would do much to harm the world’s opinion of Jordan.

Other excerpts from the tape suggest OBL is continuing his previous strategy that he believes worked with the downfall of the Soviet Union. It was the Afghan-Soviet War that OBL has drawn much of his inspiration from even though the role he played in the actual fighting was very minimum.

“We will continue, God willing, to fight you and your allies everywhere,” he said, “in Iraq and Afghanistan and in Somalia and Sudan until we waste all your money and kill your men.” (source)

In many ways Zarqawi trumped the value of OBL in the greater jihad and this video can and I feel should be seen as OBL trying to gain publicity off of the life of Zarqawi. Whether or not that works in his favor won’t be known for some time.

UPDATE: Just as I figured, Jordan refused to receive Zarqawi’s body.

In an e-mail, Mowaffak al Rubaie, Iraq’s national security advisor, said: “Zarqawi’s remains were buried in an unmarked location at an unspecified place in Iraq. The Jordanian government refused to take his body back to Jordan.”

Why wasn’t it just cremated?

Unpartisan.com Political News and Blog Aggregator linked with Bin Laden praises al-Zarqawi as "the lion of holy war"...