It won't make a shred of difference. It may in fact make things worse in the short term until his followers get over his martyrdom.
Fact is, AQ is a cell organisation. Bin Laden as a 'leader' is perhaps an over simplification of how the whole thing works. He may be the figure-head (and don't the Americans just love a nice, easy to recognise enemy figure), but to imply he has anything to do with the current AQ MO is just plain wrong.
Each cell has its own MO, own organisational structure and own people working independently towards the shared ideal. That's why the US has such great trouble finding the buggers - they have no intel links to lead the US to the next group!
So besides all the grandstanding that is sure to come (from both sides) I see very little changing in a practical sense.
I could be way off the mark however - here's hoping its for the better...
