I agree that it was awful, but I suspect that Rumsfeld himself may have offered to leave. I think it was very ill-advised; I think he's done a good job, although he perhaps could have been more aggressive, but I think Bush was happy with him. I think he came to see himself as a liability, and he's very much a team player. The way Bush handled this actually made me think that he really hadn't planned on having Rumsfeld leave, except that it was something declared by RUmsfeld at the last moment.
Both of them have been under attack by the press for several years now, and because the war appears to be (a) nothing threatening the average American on these shores and (b) a political stunt motivated by Bush's desire to take over the universe (I'm giving the media view, not mine), I think Rumsfeld simply couldn't take it anymore.
No, they said it had been decided a few weeks ago.
Sect. Rumsfeld tendered his resignation, along with all of the rest of the Cabinet, before President Bush was re-elected. That envelope is old, and dusty.
/johnny