Dick Cheney writes in his book that he urged Bush to bomb Syria

In his new memoir, former Vice President Dick Cheney details urging President George W. Bush to bomb a suspected Syrian nuclear reactor in 2007, the New York Times reports.

The rest of Mr. Bush's advisers, however, opposed Cheney's suggestion, and ultimately Mr. Bush listened to them. It's just one instance in the book in which Cheney describes butting heads with others in the administration, according to the Times, which obtained an advanced copy of the memoir, "In My Time."

"I again made the case for U.S. military action against the reactor," Mr. Cheney wrote, describing a meeting regarding the possible Syrian reactor. "But I was a lone voice. After I finished, the president asked, 'Does anyone here agree with the vice president?' Not a single hand went up around the room."

Mr. Bush decided to instead pressure Syria to drop its suspected nuclear program through diplomacy, and Israel ended up bombing the site some months later, in September 2007.

While Cheney reportedly calls Mr. Bush an "outstanding leader" in the book, he gives critical assessments of other cabinet members, including former CIA director George Tenet, former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and former Secretary of State Colin Powell.

The memoir is slated to be published next week, and in an interview to air next week, Cheney told NBC, "There are gonna be heads exploding all over Washington'' once his book is out.

The former vice president revealed to NBC that his book explains why he kept a signed letter of resignation locked in a safe throughout most of his eight years in the White House.