BBC NEWS | World | South Asia | Musharraf confirms 'al-Qaeda' hit

Specifically, he said that five men foreign to Pakistan died in that raid. One of them was al-Zawahiri's son-in-law, who also led Al-Qa'ida's media operations. In essence, this man was Osama bin Laden's G-5--which is to say, his General Staff Officer in Charge of Civilian-Military Liaison.

Another man was an Egyptian bomb-making expert who carried a $5 million (US) price on his head.

So that raid was worthwhile, after all, even if al-Zawahiri himself was a no-show.