Update

A quick update to the July 10 item included in this post, which reported on the story that former Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes was strip-searched on two recent trips to Washington, DC.

Fernandes says he was required to take off his coat, shoes, socks and extend his arms while he was body searched, but was not actually made to strip.

The US embassy in Delhi has a different story, that the minister

"did have a security wand placed over him when a key in his pocket set off the metal detector", a US embassy spokeswoman said,

apparently suggesting there was no more to it. Why the embassy in Delhi should be the last word on incidents in Washington, DC is unexplained.

But even in that event, what happened was not in keeping with proper protocol and the US has apologized, with Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage saying he was "horrified" at Fernandes' treatment.

While he's in the mood, I think I could come up with a good number of additional incidents he should find equally "horrifying" but since they don't involve former government ministers or other assorted VIPs, I doubt he'd care.