Saruman for or against Sauron?

[The Only Real Estel]

I think that Saruman did 'join' with Sauron, but had his own plans all along. Like Mansun said, I don't think there is any evidence at all that Saruman bred his army solely to help Sauron, he was breeding them in his own little attmept to copy Sauron's army. If he could get Sauron to fall for his lip-service pitch he could still destroy Rohan (which would help him quite a bit) and hopefully recover the Ring before Sauron did, with a decent sized army to protect him. That said I doubt Sauron fell for it for long.

I think it's sad how the film shows Saruman as being, like you say, a puppet and little more.

I'll third that. Saruman had his own powers and plans and was a good deal more than a stupid finger puppet, being bent to his new master's will.