Saruman for or against Sauron?

[davem]

Ok, I accept that if you are prepared to completely alter the characters' motivations, attitudes, intelligence level & general honesty, ignore clear & implied authorial statements within the text itself, are willing to invent new motivations for characters which are the opposite of the motives which they are clearly stated in the book to have, make characters renowned for their wisdom into idiots who don't know their Ainur from their Eldar, & are happy to accept Gandalf as a moral coward who would send Frodo & Sam to their deaths (by lying to them & telling them he himself could not master the Ring & would wnd up enslaved to it), in order to destroy something that he himself could have 'mastered', then certainly you can make one line in one private letter (which as far as we know he was never challenged on) 'fit' with the story.