7:30 a.m. CDT, August 25, 2011

Dick Cheney is already promising there will be “heads exploding all over Washington” when his new book hits stores Tuesday.

The 46^th vice president made that declaration in an interview with NBC -- portions of which were aired on the Today Show Wednesday morning -- as he embarked on a media blitz to promote the book, “In My Time: A Personal and Political Memoir.”

The memoir discusses Cheney's health, the Sept. 11 attacks, his secret resignation letter, and his thoughts about President George W. Bush and other prominent characters from the Bush White House, NBC reports.

“I didn't set out to embarrass the president or not embarrass the president,’’ Cheney, 70, told NBC's Jamie Gangel. “If you look at the book, there are many places in it where I say some very fine things about George Bush. And believe every word of it.’’

Cheney, who suffered four heart attacks before becoming vice president, reveals in the book that he had a secret resignation letter locked away in a safe. Only Bush and a staffer knew about the letter.

“I did it because I was concerned that — for a couple of reasons,’’he said. “One was my own health situation. The possibility that I might have a heart attack or a stroke that would be incapacitating. And there is no mechanism for getting rid of a vice president who can’t function.’’

Cheney also said he stood by the use of waterboarding as an interrogation tool, one of the most controversial policies of the Bush adminstration.

“I would strongly support using it again if we had a high value detainee and that was the only way we could get him to talk,’’ he said.

The NBC interview will be aired in full Monday night on Dateline.

kim.geiger@latimes.com

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