The White House has a new creative solution to the reconstruction of Iraq: Let Denver take care of it.

On Wednesday, the First Lady's office announced Denver was Baghdad's "sister city," a relationship that will focus on "humanitarian assistance" and "other local aid initiatives."

"As the partnerships develop, other programs will be explored relating to healthcare, education, information technology, and economic and business development," says the First Lady.

Denver may be wondering how it got so lucky. Especially when Baltimore gets paired off with a seaside resort city in Italy. And Chicago has the tough assignment of sistering with Paris. No one ever said life was fair, Denver.

Plus, you have company: The fine people of Dallas now have Kirkuk to look after, and Tucson gets Sulaymaniyah. "The U.S. government applauds these cities for their initiative," the First Lady said in a statement.

How is Denver taking the news? Officials there, confronted with a $33 million budget shortfall in 2005, said the White House announcement was, um, premature. No vote was taken on the proposal, they said. Good luck getting out of that one.