Recent Posts section not showing perma link. How?

Hi all,

I have a section that shows the most recent posts. However, it shows links as ?p=1 instead of the perma link url.

The php used is:
[code]<br />
foreach ($recentposts as $post) {<br />
if ($post->post_title == '')<br />
$post->post_title = sprintf(__('Post #%s'), $post->ID);<br />
echo "
<li><a>ID'>";<br />
the_title();<br />
echo '</a></li>
';<br />
}<br />
[/code]

How can I get it to show permalink instead?

I was searching around, but did not find anything. Perhaps I am not looking right. So boggled right now.

Thanks