During his interview with Sarah Palin, ABC’s Charlie Gibson misquoted one of her past statements, claiming that she said “Our national leaders are sending U.S. soldiers on a task that is from God.”

However, Palin actually asked her congregation to “pray for our military men and women who are striving to do what is right. Also, for this country, that our leaders, our national leaders, are sending [U.S. soldiers] out on a task that is from God. That’s what we have to make sure that we’re praying for, that there is a plan and that that plan is God’s plan.”

In context, the phrase “for this country” in Palin’s second sentence clearly links it with the request that people “pray” in the first sentence. Also, the third sentence clearly indicates that people should pray that US military decisions are part of a “task” or “plan” from God, not that she knows that to be true.

Even though Gibson came under fire for his statement, the myth is still out there. Most recently, the AFP, a foreign wire service widely available on American websites, claimed without explanation that Palin “has previously remarked that US soldiers in Iraq were being sent on a task from God.”