Root out：发现；连根拔除

10月23日上午，伊拉克西部发生一起自杀式汽车炸弹爆炸事件，造成至少20人死亡，多人受伤。据悉，爆炸事件的起因是美军下令逮捕盖达恐怖组织成员在伊拉克的领导人扎卡维的一名高级副官。新华社报道如下：As many as 20 people were killed on Saturday in suicide car bomb attacks in Iraq with dozens of others wounded amid US claim of the arrest of a senior aide to Washington's top foe¹, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi.

The US forces have recently stepped up operations in Fallujah, 65 km west of Baghdad, in an effort to root out anti-US militants², who are said to be behind suicide bombings and beheadings of foreign hostages.

Root out表示“发现，用鼻拱出，连根拔除，肃清”等含义，因为root表示“仿佛用口吻或用鼻子在泥土里翻，翻找某物”。例如：Waste and fraud will be vigorously rooted out of Government（要强有力地铲除政府中的挥霍和欺诈现象。）