I'm curious to know why the AP don't allow red-eye removal--if the only manipulations allowed are those that help restore the clarity and accuracy to reality of the photographs, I'm not quite sure why red-eye removal wouldn't be permitted--most people's eyes, after all, are not red.
Sure they are red - in the brief instant the flash lights them up. You can see it with a spotlight too, try following someone around a dark stage with a spotlight.