Way above his pay grade?
There's only ONE guy above his pay grade. The Secretary of Defense reports directly to the President, and to the President alone. The President charged Rumsfeld with the conduct of the war. Rumsfeld failed to prosecute the war aggressively enough, plain and simple. He failed to provide enough troops on the ground.
And what would more troops have accomplished if you couldn't use them against the supply lines from neighboring states or had to respect mosques AKA supply depots.
Rumsfeld won both wars. The aftermath was lost politically. by Bush listening to Rice/State Dept.
Bush sent Karen Hughes to ask the enemy to like us, instead of ordering Rumsfeld to make them fear and respect us- or just fear us.
And you ain't seen nothing yet. Rumsfeld is gone and the surrender started today.