I try not to be but I think he is a man of integrity and courage and when others blithely start Monday morning quarterbacking and denigrating him I think it is because those on the outside aren't dealing with the same advice and information he has.
As I understand it he has always been one to pick those who seem to him to be the best persons to do the job, give it to them and then stay out of the way while they did it without micro managing them like LBJ and some others.
From the beginning he has said he would give the military what they asked for and he always followed the advice they gave. I am an admirer of Rumsfield and I am sure he listened to his Generals also. All the things you mention about Iran and Syria I wondered about at the time myself. Those happened under Rumsfield and he is now gone.
Bush has always acted on the best information and advice he could get. Did he get good information and advice, especially from the CIA and the State Department? I seriously doubt it. Yet, he hasn't thrown in the towel even though the enemy's best friends are right here in the USA, misrepresenting the facts, threatening to impeach him, and blocking many of the things he is trying to do.
Perhaps you are not an internet Rambo but there are many here on FR. I just try to keep things in perspective.
I think the truth is somewhere in between your two positions.
Bush has tried as hard as he can, and he has held to his course in the face of a traitorous media and traitorous Democrats who want to lose the war.
I also agree that Rumsfeld was not to blame for these failures. He was fighting the clintonoids in the Pentagon and the CIA who WERE to blame.
Nevertheless, Bush erred when he failed to go into Syria, he failed when he left Tenet in before finally removing him, and he failed in not speaking out more strongly for the truth.
Far from widening the war, regime change in Syria would have made things easier in Iraq as well as taking the pressure off Israel, because Syria has been one of the main sanctuaries from which the terrorists have been operating with impunity.
Iran is another problem, much more difficult, but at least we should have dealt with Syria, years ago.
I support Bush on the war. I just wish he had done more of the same.