"We give the good news to the Islamic nation that we have carried God's verdict by slaughtering the two captured crusaders... With God Almighty's blessing, Abu Hamza al-Muhajer carried out the verdict of the Islamic court"
With this message posted on a jihadi website and reports from the press that two beheaded bodies of servicemen were found, it looks like Abu al-Masri's starting off his succession of Al Qaeda in Iraq with a bang. Recall that it was Zaraqwi who brought his group Tawhid wal Jihad to the fore by using the beheading of Nick Berg (04/2004) and Eugene Armstrong (10/2004), a contractor, to great media success. It's arguably this brutal strategy that made Al Qaeda recognize Zarqawi as a force to be reckoned with in Iraq and lead to his franchising the Al Qaeda name. Also, recall, that Zarqawi backed off this tactic when beheading was shown to be backfiring among his target recruiting audience. Yes, too brutal.
Now, al Masri appears to be doing the same, and that statement implies personally. Rehashing this old tactic may be a ploy to solidify his position as top dog in the insurgent pantheon since things were shaken up due to Zarqawi's death, but it also signifies that he's desperate for attention and position. Since the established public perception of beheadings turns the populace away from the insurgency, we're left with these possibilities: Desperate attempts for power or legitimacy.
What the American people do with this event will really be determined how the press and the individuals in Congress feel about the political opportunities that can be leveraged. It's a sad even that our boys are captured and killed, but it's a clawing reaction to try to hold on to the Iraqi public's fear in the face of an ever solidifying Iraqi government.