American, proud of it

I am an American who, like many others in the U.S.A., felt that Michael Fay deserved to have been punished in accordance with the Laws of the Land after he had committed his crime, not more and not less. But for a certain Peter Doering to lash out at all Americans, insult our President and degrade American society without knowing what he's talking about is stupid, plain and simple.

Isn't it ironic that our "crime invested country" with our "rotten cities" and our "rotten society," as Doering calls it, still attracts thousands of foreign students who, after completing their studies with degrees in their pockets, go home with a totally accepted and enlightened view of what the U.S.A. is all about. Obviously, this doesn't mean anything to Doering.

To even suggest that President Clinton does not have the right as a citizen of the U.S.A. to approach the Singaporean Government or anybody else for that matter, is wrong. Doering's proposition that the parents of Michael Fay should also be caned could only come from the sick mind of a very ignorant person.

BILL LEENSTRA

Surabaya, East Java