CHICAGO - A Vietnam veteran said in a statement published Thursday he spat chewing tobacco juice in Jane Fonda's face at a book signing in Missouri as payback for her anti-war stance in the 1970s.
"She is a traitor," Michael Dean Smith, 54, told the Kansas City Star newspaper.
"She is responsible for a lot of my friends, a lot of my buddies, a lot of my brothers being listed on 'the wall'," he said, referring to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, which lists 58,000 casualties from the war.
"I consider it a debt of honor. She spit in our faces for 37 years," he said.
Fonda was an early protester of the war and even visited Hanoi.
Smith was arrested and briefly jailed Tuesday night after he spat the sticky juice on the right side of Fonda's face, neck and blouse after she signed his copy of her autobiography, "My Life So Far."
"It was absolutely worth it," Smith said. "There are a lot of veterans who would love to do what I did."
Fonda declined to press assault charges against Smith, telling the Kansas City, Missouri newspaper in a statement: "It was a minor incident at a really wonderful evening, and I think the authorities have better things to do than press charges against this man."
"In spite of the incident, my experience in Kansas City was wonderful and I thank all the warm and supportive people, including so many veterans, who came out to welcome me last night."
Local police charged Smith with disorderly conduct. He has decided to plead guilty, the Star reported Thursday.
04/21/2005 16:38 GMT