Two observations on The Post's misleading Editorial, "Spotlight on Kofi" (Jan. 19)

Firstly, the Oil-for-Food program achieved the main goals set for it by the U.N. Security Council, providing a lifeline for 27 million Iraqis for almost seven years.

It delivered food, medical supplies and hospital equipment nationwide and sustained much of the essential infrastructure and services people needed in order to survive Saddam Hussein's brutal regime.

More than 60 percent of the population was totally dependent on the program for their food, and rates of malnutrition among Iraqi children were dramatically reduced.

When the Coalition led by the United States and the United Kingdom took over in November 2003, they praised the United Nations distribution network and adopted it as their own best means of sustaining the civilian population.

The Post's skepticism regarding the Millennium Project launched this week is misplaced.

It does aim for a doubling of international aid over the next 10 years to fight extreme poverty, but asks nothing more of world leaders than that they live up to promises they made years ago to "make concrete efforts" toward a target of seven-tenths of 1 percent of their national income.

If they met that pledge, the lives and aspirations of the world's 3 billion people now living on less than $2 a day, could be dramatically transformed.