DICK CHENEY’S steely presence used to be seen as one of the great strengths of the Bush Administration. Not any more.

The 64-year-old Vice-President has re-emerged on to the public stage after weeks in the White House freezer with an attack on critics of the Iraq policy he did so much to promote.

But far from bolstering his President, Mr Cheney’s assault appeared to have merely encouraged growing criticism of his uncompromising style.

“The President and I cannot prevent certain politicians from losing their memory, or their backbone, but we’re not going to let them rewrite history,” Mr Cheney said in a Wednesday night speech aimed at Democrats who accuse the White House of misleading America over Iraq.

He went on: “The suggestion that’s been made by some US senators that the President or any member of this Administration purposely misled the American people on prewar intelligence is one of the most dishonest and reprehensible charges ever aired in this city.

“The saddest part is that our people in uniform have been subjected to these cynical and pernicious falsehoods day in and day out.”

The speech, delivered to a conservative policy group, drew a furious response. Harry Reid, leader of the Senate’s Democrat minority, said that it showed the Administration planned to continue putting its political fortunes ahead of America’s needs.

John Kerry, the Democrats’ presidential candidate last year, said that it was “hard to name a government official with less credibilty on Iraq” than Mr Cheney. But the criticism came not just from Democrats. Chuck Hagel, a senior senator and Vietnam veteran, betrayed growing Republican unease by declaring: “The Bush Administration must understand that each American has a right to question our policies in Iraq and should not be demonised for disagreeing with them.

“Suggesting that to challenge or criticise policy is undermining our troops is not democracy, nor what this country has stood for over 200 years.”

Throughout Mr Bush’s first term, Mr Cheney’s closeness to the President, especially after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, earned him the reputation as one of the most powerful vice-presidents in history, and he was a leading advocate of the invasion of Iraq. But his popularity and influence have waned in line with public support for the Iraq conflict, and he is increasingly seen as a liability. His approval ratings have sunk to a five-year low. He was invisible after the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

One prominent Republican critic, Senator John McCain, a former prisoner-of-war in Vietnam, wants a ban on “cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of detainees” in Iraq. It was another sign of Mr Cheney’s fading powers that Mr McCain’s amendment passed the Senate by 90-9, despite his opposition. His image took a further dent with reports that he is trying to negotiate an opt-out from the proposed legislation for the CIA.

Mr Cheney’s record in allegedly ramping up the case for war is under intense scrutiny in Washington, which has not forgotten statements such as his assertion in August 2002 that “on the nuclear question, many of us are convinced that Saddam will acquire such weapons fairly soon”. In June last year he talked of Saddam Hussein’s “long-established ties with al-Qaeda”, proof of which remains elusive.

An ally of the Vice-President told Time magazine this week that “Cheney’s war is swallowing Bush’s presidency”.

The article, headlined “The long, hard autumn of Dick Cheney”, also pointed out that Mr Cheney’s lack of desire to seek the Oval Office for himself in 2008 freed him to risk his own standing on behalf of the President — but left him looking vulnerable when he started to lose his touch.

Mr Bush backed his deputy yesterday. Speaking in South Korea, he accused the Democrats of irresponsibly playing politics over Iraq. Dan Bartlett, a presidential adviser, said that Democrat attacks had crossed the line and required a “sustained response”.

But Mr Bush seems to be distancing himself from his Vice-President, who reportedly learnt secondhand of the President’s ill-fated nomination of Harriet Miers to the Supreme Court, and spent the difficult election week last week pheasant-hunting in South Dakota.

The President’s political imperative to put clear space between himself and Mr Cheney only increased when the Vice-President’s top aide, Lewis “Scooter” Libby, was indicted on charges relating to the CIA-leak scandal. The case could see Mr Cheney called to testify.

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