It hasn't been that cool to be gay in Iraq, like, ever, but it has been especially bad since the fall of Saddam because Islamic fundamentalist militias have been targeting gays for both torture and assassination both because homosexuality violates Islamic law, and because homosexuality is seen as a Western import. CNN has a feature story that's making the rounds of the blogs, including interviews with two young gay Iraqis who are using the pseudonyms Kamal and Rami. At age 16, Kamal was thrown in the trunk of a car by armed gunman, held captive and repeatedly raped for several days until his family rescued him with a $1,500 ransom. The motive for the rape and torture was his sexuality.