This would certainly be a huge blow to the insurgency.
A Battle to Succeed Zarqawi
There is Abu Abdullah Rasheed al Bagdadi. In March 2006, Zarqawi established the Shura Council of Mujahedeen in Iraq to oversee the operations of different groups. The move was in reaction to pressure to put an Iraqi face on the insurgency. ("Al Baghdadi" implies he is from Baghdad.) At the beginning, five groups were represented on the council, including Al Qaeda in Iraq. The number of groups has expanded to nine, says Abu Bara. The groups are all Islamic hardline fundamentalist fighters with names like Brigade of Abu Bakr the Salafi and Battalion of the Foreigners. At the time it was formed, Zarqawi named Abu Abdullah Rasheed al Baghdadi (who had until then been known as Abu Hamza al Baghdadi) to head the council, technically putting al Baghdadi in a rank above Zarqawi. This could mean that the new head of Al-Qaeda in Iraq may be expected to defer to the head of the council on strategic goals, setting the two on a potential collision course for power and influence.
The death of Zarqawi, says Al-Qaeda in Iraq commander Abu Bara, will not change the role of the "Arab" (non-Iraqi) fighters in what remains of Zarqawi's group. "The organization is not ready to give up on the Arab mujhideen whatever the cause," he says. Also, says Abu Bara, the financing from other Arab states will continue to come in for Al-Qaeda in Iraq because, though Zarqawi was the head of the organization, he was not in charge of the finances. That fundraising mechanism, therefore, continues to function. On Saturday, many Islamic resistance websites posted a condolence letter about the death of Zarqawi from the Shura Council of Mujahedeen in Iraq. The bottom of the letter was signed: Abu Abdullah Rasheed al Baghdadi.
http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1203202,00.html