By and large this
AP wire story is pretty innocuous. It appears to be a simple follow-up and review of the U.S.-led U.N. forces actions as they set-up to restore peace in Haiti. Nothing to write home about, right?
But, as you read along you come to this fascinating little snarky aside towards the French, who are contributing the second largest contingent of troops in the U.N. force:
"U.S. Marines set up a security perimeter at the airport, kneeling in the grass as about 80 French Marines arrived in C-160 transport planes. The French Marines' supplies included crates of bottled Evian water." Italics mine own
It isn't just the dig at the French marines as being so effete that they need the manly U.S. of A to protect their bottled water, it's that the rest of the piece goes to some length to show the cooperation of U.S. and French as positive. I mean, did that sentence really need to be included in there for any other purpose than a lame attempt to embarrass the French. What really bothers me is that i am more than 100% sure that the U.S. probably also sends in bottled water for its troops. Sure that water is probably bottled by coca-cola, but that doesn't make it any less bottled water than Evian. If this isn't an example of subjectivity creeping into what is often regarded as one of the more objective, professional wire services, i sure as hell don't know what is. The A.P. editors should have known better before sending this out with that sentence intact and the reporters should attempt to disguise their anti-French sentiments in more creative ways.