<div class="bar3">
	<div id="featured_articles">
		<div class="site_width">
			<ul>
					<?php
					$args = array( 'tag' => 'featured', 'posts_per_page' => '3' );
					$recent_posts = wp_get_recent_posts( $args );
					foreach( $recent_posts as $post ){
					?>
				<li>
                                    		<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" title="<?php the_title(); ?>" rel="nofollow">
                                        		<?php the_post_thumbnail('featured', array( 'title'	=> '' )); ?>
                                    		</a>
                                    		<label>
                                    			<a href="<?php the_permalink(); ?>" rel="bookmark">
                                    				<?php the_title(); ?>
                                    			</a>
                                    		</label>
                        	</li>
                                    	<?php } //end the foreach loop ?>
                                    	<?php wp_reset_query(); ?>
			</ul>
		</div>
	</div>
</div>




RESULT:



<div class="bar3">
	<div id="featured_articles">
		<div class="site_width">
			<ul>
				<li>
                                    	<a href="" title="" rel="nofollow">
                                        </a>
                                    	<label>
                                    		<a href="" rel="bookmark">
                                    		</a>
                                    	</label>
                                </li>
                                 <li>
                                    	<a href="" title="" rel="nofollow">
                                        </a>
                                    	<label>
                                    		<a href="" rel="bookmark">
                                    		</a>
                                    	</label>
                                  </li>
                                  <li>
                                    	<a href="" title="" rel="nofollow">
                                        </a>
                                    	<label>
                                    		<a href="" rel="bookmark">
                                    		</a>
                                    	</label>
                                  </li>
             		</ul>
		</div>
	</div>
</div>

(Query doesn't load any of the article info from database)