Looming：逼近的，迫在眉睫的

11月7日，在伊拉克首都巴格達以西的“反美力量大本營”費盧杰市，伊拉克政府軍士兵與美軍執行圍剿任務。伊拉克臨時政府發言人納吉卜當天宣布，為了保證明年1月全國大選順利舉行，伊拉克進入為期60天的緊急狀態。據新華社報道：US armored vehicles were seen moving toward Fallujah late Sunday, as Iraq's interim government declared a state of emergency for two months.

Witnesses said tanks and humvees positioned west of Fallujah, 50km west of Baghdad, started to move toward the edge of the city, the soldiers were spraying cannon over the bare field.

US marines and Iraqi forces surrounding Fallujah were gearing up for a major offensive on the city, where people had piled up sandbags and placed roadblocks in the streets to face a looming invasion.

Looming表示“逼近的，迫在眉睫的”，因為loom有“隱約出現；（危險、憂慮等）陰森地臨近”的意思。例如：Fear of failure loomed large in his mind.（害怕失敗的情緒沉重地壓在他的心頭。）A hard struggle looms ahead.（一場苦斗迫在眉睫。）

據悉，駐伊美軍8日凌晨突入費盧杰西部，奪取了該城主要醫院和兩座幼發拉底河上的重要橋梁，展開了總攻費盧杰的第一階段攻勢。美國媒體分析稱，擁有30萬人口、清真寺遍布的費盧杰不僅已經成為伊拉克中部遜尼派穆斯林的反美大本營，而且日益成為吸引全世界反美力量的磁石。因此，美軍要在伊拉克站住腳，必須徹底鏟除在費盧杰的大約3000名反美武裝人員，以達到“殺一儆百”的目的。