What Does it Matter?

Can someone explain to me what does it matter if this guy died under the ruble or was alive and then died on a stretcher. I have heard, CNN, NPR, AirAmerica and countless articles devoted to reporting exactly when this guy died?

... I just wonder why the Military did not tell us the truth from the get-go. I mean, they had time to take a picture of the guy and blow it up to a 20x24 size and frame it suitable for mass consumption but they could not figure out when the guy died?

Zarqawi Lived After Airstrike

Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was clinging to life when Iraqi and, later, American forces arrived at the scene of the bombing that killed him, a U.S. general said Friday, revising his earlier account of the al-Qaeda leader's death. Meanwhile, other circumstances surrounding the killing remained cloudy.