They say disposing Osama's body is to prevent a memorial or shrine from being built. But, can't they still build one?

Can they find the head?

or will Pakistan let the compound be “Ground Zero” and build one there?

They may well create a shrine, but without the body there, it would far less appeal to His followers.

It will be an empty place.

They could create a myth or conspiracy theory that he is not really dead. It was done for example, with Hitler, Che Guevara and Elvis Presley.

When the King Charles II was restored to the throne of England in 1660 the authorities were faced with the same dilemma with the remains of Oliver Cromwell. What followed is a grisly chain of events: his remains were exhumed from their resting place in Westminster Abbey; then it was dragged through the streets on a hurdle to Tyburn where it was ritually hanged on the gallows; it was then taken down and the head severed from the body and put on display on a pole outside Westminster Hall. The body was buried in an unmarked grave at Tyburn. The head remained on its pole until 1684 when it disappeared. It reappeared in the early 20th century at Cromwell’s College, Sydney Sussex, at Cambridge. In 1960 it was buried there in an undisclosed location. I think they have somewhat more gentlemanly with Bin Laden’s remains.

The Internet will be the “shrine”. Al-Qaeda worships martyrs online.

I imagine such a shrine would be a big fat target for hellfire missiles.

“They” can do whatever they want, but it will be a less significant shrine or memorial without his body. From what I’ve been hearing, bin Laden has been marginalized as a heroic figure by the events of the Arab Spring in any case, although his devotees will, of course, still martyrize him.

They can and maybe they will. Or they could do what other fanatics weirdly practice, like putting sea water from that part of the ocean into small vials to carry with them.

The followers are unlikely to agree on a central place like they would if there was a place where his body actually was. There will likely be a number of shrines, each less powerful than any if he was actually buried somewhere on land.

I am quite pleased the military buried Osama in the ocean.
Now, I can drive the 35 miles to the beach, urinate in the Pacific Ocean, and dream that just a little of my pee finds its way to bin Ladens head.

@filmfann, according to science, it is a nigh-statistical certainty that a little bit of your pee will in fact find its way to bin Laden’s head.