Oh please. Saddam is a cunning and clever fellow to have remained alive, in power and in possession of WMD. But he is hardly the great strategist and global svengali you imagine. Conisder, as even Bush I officials readily admit, that with a bit of finesse (agreeing not to invade Saudi Arabia and a few other compromises) he could have held on to Kuwait.
The claim that al-Qaeda has no separate reality is absurd. (I certainly agree that are coordinating with Saddam, and have most probably done so in the past.)