[Jordan]

With MySQL I generally leave out most of the ` symbols:

PHP Code:

$sql = "SELECT * FROM articles WHERE ID= '" . mysql_real_escape_string ( $_GET['ID'] ) . "'"; 


If that doesn't work do

PHP Code:

echo $sql; 


right after that line. Then copy/paste that info into MySQL directly. You will generally get a more descriptive error (you can use PHPMyAdmin or MySQL from the console for this).