Donor nations, including the United States and Japan, must act now to fight poverty in an interconnected world, World Bank President Paul Wolfowitz said Tuesday in Tokyo.

"Problems in one part of the world spread quickly," Wolfowitz said in a news conference at the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Japan in Tokyo. A global effort is needed to combat infested water and preventable illnesses like malaria and tuberculosis, which are claiming lives in Africa, as well as the HIV-AIDS epidemic, he said. "You need to cover the whole field.

"I'd like to see the United States do more."

But despite Wolfowitz's impassioned, if quiet, plea, reporters bombarded the former U.S. deputy defense secretary about the validity of the U.S. involvement in Iraq, and whether the funds used in the war could have been better used to fight poverty.

Wolfowitz is widely known as one of the movers and shakers of the Iraq war.

Noting the recent Iraq election, he said, "The people of Iraq suffered under 35 years of misrule ... 8.5 million people risked their lives to cast a vote" for a different future from what they had.

Peace in Iraq will involve further military and economic challenges, but with peace, Iraq's human resources -- "the most talented in the Arab world" -- will have a chance, he claimed.

Coordination is necessary between Japan and the World Bank, the top two donors in Southeast Asia, he later stressed in a meeting with Finance Minister Sadakazu Taniguchi.