Bush 'authorised Iraq intelligence leak'

US vice president Dick Cheney’s former top aide told prosecutors President George Bush authorised the leak of sensitive intelligence information about Iraq, according to court papers filed by prosecutors in the CIA leak case.

Before his indictment, Lewis Libby testified to the grand jury investigating the CIA leak that Cheney told him to pass on information and that it was Bush who authorised the disclosure, the court papers say. According to the documents, the authorisation led to the July 8 2003, conversation between Libby and New York Times reporter Judith Miller.