The bin Laden "rebranding."

Some intelligence community experts, according to this L.A. Times report, read bin Laden's new message as an attempt at "rebranding":

"In some ways the tone of the message is as intriguing, and alarming, as the timing," said a U.S. official familiar with the tape, and the intelligence community's analysis of it. "The absence of an explicit threat does represent a different point of emphasis for this guy."

The fear is that bin Laden is trying to follow the pattern of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Hezbollah and the Irish Republican Army, which "evolved from violent militant groups into broader organizations with influential, widely accepted political wings."