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Powder Mailed to Journal, Dershowitz Is Harmless

By John Johnson,  Newser Staff

Posted Jan 21, 2009 8:25 PM CST

(Newser) – White powder mailed to executives of the Wall Street Journal and to Harvard professor Alan Dershowitz is harmless, authorities say. Authorities have no suspects or motive, but the Journal notes that Dershowitz wrote an essay for the paper earlier this month defending Israel's assault on Gaza. The Journal got a dozen letters and evacuated two floors of its Manhattan offices this afternoon. Dershowitz got one letter at Harvard Law School.

"My secretary was really brave and endured most of the trauma," Dershowitz told the Boston Globe. "It was terrible. I hope they find the people and prosecute them." Preliminary tests indicate that the powder is probably flour or something similar. The scare raised memories of a series of anthrax-laced letters sent to media outlets seven years ago.

A HAZMAT truck, foreground, and NYPD trucks are parked in front of the the building at the World Financial Center where the Wall Street Journal has its offices.
A HAZMAT truck, foreground, and NYPD trucks are parked in front of the the building at the World Financial Center where the Wall Street Journal has its offices.   (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Officers with the NYPD enter the the building at the World Financial Center where the Wall St. Journal has its offices.
Officers with the NYPD enter the the building at the World Financial Center where the Wall St. Journal has its offices.   (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Wall Street Journal employees leave the building at the World  Financial Center where the company has its offices, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2009, in New York.
Wall Street Journal employees leave the building at the World Financial Center where the company has its offices, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2009, in New York.   (AP Photo/Mary Altaffer)
Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz addresses an audience at Brandeis University, in Waltham, Mass., in this file photo taken Jan. 23, 2007.
Harvard law professor Alan Dershowitz addresses an audience at Brandeis University, in Waltham, Mass., in this file photo taken Jan. 23, 2007.   (AP Photo)
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