Anti-war voters vent frustrations

SWARTHMORE, Pa., Aug. 23 (UPI) -- U.S. Rep. Joe Sestak, D-Pa., faced critics at a town hall meeting who expressed frustration that the Democratic Congress has yet to pull U.S. troops from Iraq.

Sestak listened at the Swarthmore, Pa., meeting as critics of the war slammed the recently elected Democratic majority for failing to end the war in Iraq, the Christian Science Monitor reported Thursday.

"Where is the ire of our Congress who, last election, had a mandate to end the occupation and bring our troops home?" retired schoolteacher Toni Bailey asked at the meeting. "What will it take for the Congress of the United States of America to do the will of the people?"

Sestak, a retired Navy admiral, was elected to the House in 2006 on an anti-war platform. However, he says, a U.S. exit from Iraq must be performed over the course of at least 15 months, and Democrats don't yet have the amount of votes needed to begin a withdrawal.

"Many are aggrieved that this Congress has been unsuccessful in trying to end this war," Sestak said after the meeting. "As a representative, I have to listen, but it's also my job as a congressman ... to use my judgment."