The court documents indicate that Bush and Cheney authorized the release of the intelligence information after former Ambassador Joseph Wilson wrote a July 6, 2003, op-ed piece charging that the administration's claim that Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was trying to obtain uranium from Niger was false. Some intelligence agencies also disputed the White House's allegation at the time, and it later proved to be false.

The court documents provide the most concrete evidence to date that the president and vice president were engaged in a campaign to disclose selected snippets of highly classified intelligence, much of it misleading, exaggerated or wrong, to a few trusted journalists in an effort to bolster their case for war.

According to court papers filed by Special Prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald on Wednesday, former Cheney aide I. Lewis ''Scooter'' Libby told a federal grand jury that he received ''approval from the president through the vice president'' to reveal key judgments of the National Intelligence Estimate in 2003 about Saddam's alleged attempts to develop weapons of mass destruction.

Those court papers said a critical conversation with former New York Times reporter Judith Miller on July 8, 2003, occurred ''only after the Vice President advised defendant that the President specifically had authorized defendant to disclose certain information in the NIE.''

Libby, however, isn't charged with leaking classified information, but with five counts of perjury, obstruction of justice and lying to the FBI. If convicted, he could face up to 30 years in jail and $1.25 million in fines.

Bush administration officials declined to comment Thursday on Libby's testimony.

Reaction from Democrats was immediate. Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, said: ''I served for 13 years on the House Intelligence Committee, and I know intelligence must never be classified or declassified for political purposes.''

During the months before the Iraq invasion, a number of news outlets published classified information about Saddam's efforts to purchase aluminum tubes for nuclear program and about Iraq's relationship to al-Qaida terrorists. Subsequent inquiries concluded that most of that information also was wrong.

* From the top: Court papers say Vice President Dick Cheney's former top aide told prosecutors President Bush authorized the leak of sensitive intelligence information about Iraq.

l Precarious position: I. Lewis Libby's testimony puts the president and vice president in the awkward position of authorizing leaks - a practice both men have said they abhor.

l Political maneuvering: Bush's political foes jumped to attack.