Saddam and Osama

It would be premature to say this is definitive proof in any way. Still, it makes it harder to believe in one of the more pernicious secular religions of our time: the idea that Saddam Hussein never would have cooperated with al Qaeda. Presumably, those who kept pushing this idea felt that the two parties involved might have their delicate sensibilities offended if one had to deal with the other. Why cling so desperately to this assertion?
One might even trace the relative decline of quality on the Daily Show to the time some years ago, before the Iraq War, when they carried footage of Bush asserting that you couldn't say that a secular Saddam wouldn't cooperate with a jihadist Osama. Cut to Jon Stewart literally saying that as balloons and confetti fell from the rafters. Forced and unfunny. Oh well. Can we agree that this may be some sort of general principle: poorly thought out ideology = lame comedy?