[Ramrod]

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Admirers of Bill McRaven like to tell a story of his courage and grit. Not against the enemy, but against the legendarily ruthless Dick Marcinko, a gung-ho Navy SEAL commander in the Vietnam era who used to swallow sacs of cobra venom and boast that "killing is my mission." Marcinko once ordered McRaven, then a young lieutenant on the super-elite SEAL Team Six, to perform "some questionable activities," recounts a former Special Forces commander. McRaven refused and "would not back down." (Marcinko did not return phone calls seeking comment.) "McRaven was a hero among all the junior officers for his stand," says the commander. "It was considered a career-ending move."

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Not quite. William H. McRaven, it seems, was too good an officer. Today he is a rear admiral, and his new job is one that could not rank higher on President George W. Bush's to-do list in election year 2004: nailing Osama bin Laden. It is a job that will require much ruthlessnessâââ€à …¡Ã‚¬Ã¢â‚¬ÂÂÂ�a good deal more of that, perhaps, than personal honor. NEWSWEEK has learned that McRaven is heading up Task Force 121, a covert, miniature strike force with a command structure so secretive that McRaven's role hasn't even been reported until now.