Rumsfeld made the remarks as he visited marines and sailors aboard the helicopter carrier USS Essex against a backdrop of oil tankers and freighters that ply the Strait of Malacca, gateway for a third of the world's trade.

"When are we going to start hunting some terrorists in this theater?" a marine asked Rumsfeld.

"Well, I would hope pretty soon," the secretary replied.

"We simply cannot wait for another attack and expect to defend against it. We have to go out and find those terrorist networks and the people financing them, and countries providing a safe haven for them.

"It is a tough thing to do."

About half the world's oil supplies move through the narrow channel on the way to markets in Japan, China and South Korea, making it a tempting target for Islamic militants seeking to destabilise the industrialised world. But a US-sponsored initiative to improve maritime security in the Strait of Malacca has run into opposition from Malaysia, which sees the use of US forces to patrol those waters as a threat to its sovereignty.

"The entry of the United States is still open for Singapore but for Malaysia, we don't agree to the entry of a third nation," Malaysian Defence Minister Najib Razak was quoted as saying yesterday by his nation's official Bernama news agency.

The Malacca Strait, a long and narrow channel straddled by Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, is infested with pirates and regarded as very vulnerable to terrorist attacks.

Rumsfeld later told journalists the maritime security initiative was "an idea in its early stages" that is the subject of consultations with countries in the region, and stressed it would not affect any nations' sovereignty.

"Any implication that it would impinge in any way on the territorial waters of some countries would be inaccurate," he said.

Reuters adds: Rumsfeld yesterday called for more "realistic" expectations on the road toward democracy in Iraq, saying the prisoner abuse scandal had overshadowed progress in the country.

He spoke to US troops on USS Essex warship as he visited Singapore for an Asia security conference at which he was expected to urge regional leaders to provide peacekeeping support for the US-led military coalition in Iraq.

He stressed that progress was being made on elections, education, women's rights and other democratic issues in Iraq. But deadly attacks by dissident fighters and abuse of Iraqi prisoners by US troops were perhaps unfairly dominating news reports.

"It seems to me our expectations have to be recast and be realistic. It's a tough business to get from a dictatorship to a freer system," he told US Marines and sailors aboard the warship.

Rumsfeld will deliver a major Asia policy speech today to an annual regional security conference sponsored by the International Institute of Strategic Studies.

Senior defence officials and security experts from Japan, South Korea, Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Malaysia and other countries will attend.

The secretary will travel to Bangladesh today for talks with Prime Minister Khaleda Zia and foreign minister M. Morshed Khan in Dhaka.

Although Bangladesh currently has no troops in Iraq or Afghanistan, the country has a tradition of providing such troops in troublespots under UN control.

The United States and Britain are now pressing the UN Security Council for a new resolution on Iraq under which the world body could issue a mandate for an international peacekeeping force.