I had seen the cartoon, and was a bit surprised. This daily is usually quite prudent in its comments on political matters, especially with regard to the US. Apparently the hanging has rattled (for a little while) even the most pro-US.

Interesting, juicy stuff.

Eh?

L'Economiste is not particularly "pro-US" and consistently features cartoons of this nature.

It is rather more francophile than anything.

Well, in defense of Sanaa I'd say that L'Economiste is out there in the wilderness as compared to Moroccan public opinion - I was particularly annoyed by the cute interview their Israeli reporter (Claude Senouf, who also writes for Guysen News, an Israeli new agency) had with not so cute Amir Peretz one year ago - you could have thought that the journalist was writing an election day flyer. Their coverage of the Palestine question is in the same vein - peace, love & understanding - all very fine & well, and also somewhat disconnected from what even their narrow and privileged readership thinks.

La Vie économique trots along the same path, with Hind Taarji writing in Joan Baez-style on "le dialogue civilisationnel", al Andalus and the like. One business paper is sticking out though: Finance News (http://www.casanet.net.ma/financesnews/ ), a weekly with limited circulation but where you can find op-eds on Palestine, Iraq and the US that could fit into Al Manar's editorial line...

Well, yes and no.

I confess that since I largely read the business press online, I skip over the cultural nattering on. It falls into what you rightly described as the Moroccan elite's often blind francophilia, and I find that boring, uninformative and tedious. Perhaps entre eux, il est interessant, mais pour l'homme d'affaires...

That being said, I don't find L'Economiste nor la Vie Eco (of which the later is a far better paper, l'Economiste is barely readable in my opinion, I only read it to make sure I know about Maghrebine biz developements they often break) pro-American as much as francophile / pro-European. Relative to Moroccan opinion of course that could appear "pro-American" but there is hardly anything surprising about them having cartoons showing the US as a threat - especially in the FTA area. Again, very French approach to business and commernce, y compris la peur irrationnelle des Anglo Saxons.

So, I don't see any basis for Sanaa's comment, even on a relative basis. Of course cartoons and actual writing are not the same thing.