CBC and their strange bedfellows

Dear CBC :
About that Environics poll that you state was "conducted in partnership with the CBC", the one all over CBC TV News tonight, the CBC website, CTV, the G&M, etc :

CBC : 51% of Afghans feeling good about country's direction

60 % of Afghans surveyed believe the presence of foreign troops has been good for their country.
43% say that foreign troops should stay as long as it takes to get the job done.
60 % in Kandahar have a somewhat or very positive attitude toward Canada's soldiers.
70% of Afghans surveyed said they think Karzai is doing a good job.
77% of Afghans in Kandahar said Karzai is doing a good job

In fact the poll was conducted by ACSOR–Surveys, the Afghan Center for Social and Opinion Research, which was founded by D3 Systems Int. whose client base include US State Department, the US Embassy in Kabul, the Afghan Reconstruction Group, Voice of America, (PIPA) the Program on International Policy Attitudes, Charney Research of New York.....

A previous PIPA poll conducted by the Afghan Center for Social and Opinion Research in November 2005 found :
80% of Afghans believe their country is going "in the right direction"
83 % of Afghan respondents said they had a favorable opinion of U.S. troops in Afghanistan
81 % expressed a favorable opinion of the United States
83% said they had a favorable (39 percent "very favorable") view of "the U.S. military forces in our country."
75% approved of eradication of opium poppy fields
90% had an unfavorable opinion of the Taliban
and so on....

Another ACSOR Surveys poll for D3 Systems client Charney Research found :
- 83% Support Hamid Karzai
- 75% Support Female Education
- 75% Support Woman Working
- 66% Support Woman in Public Office
- 83% Have Favourable View of the USA
- 8% Favour the Taliban

Do these ACSOR figures seem even remotely credible to anyone?

Nonetheless, they were extensively used in the US media to bolster support for the war.
Just like their new one will be used here.
Peter Mackay outside the HoC today:

"Afghans are now able to take part in democratic processes like polling, and I think that's another brick in the wall as far as building the [needed] security."

Another brick in the wall, indeed. Unusual use of that Pink Floyd metaphor, Pete.

Now even if you do not subscribe, as I do, to the notion that this "CBC/Enviromics partnership" poll is just another piece of bullshit brick-in-the-wall Afghanistan/Iraq/Iran warmongering being spun by yet another US thinktank/research company, this time with our CBC as a willing patsy, you have to admit that comparing the most recent ACSOR survey with their previous ones in fact shows the Afghan outlook for the future and support for foreign troops is actually plummetting :

2005 : 80% believe the country is going in the right direction

2007 : 51% believe the country is going in the right direction

2005 : 80% support American troops
2007 : 60% support foreign troops and Canadian soldiers

So, CBC, what have you got to say for yourself?

Research jointly conducted in the threads of Bread and Roses
Cross-posted, more or less, at Creekside