- President Bush declared that U.S. troops would remain in Iraq in spite of the attacks. July 6 - Joseph C. Wilson IV, reveals in the New York Times' editorial page that the Iraqi 's yellow cake excuse is "bunk". July 7 - General John Abizaid replaces General Tommy Franks as CENTCOM commander. July 22 - Paul Bremer appoints a special Iraq interim governing council from prominent Iraqis from different areas of Iraq. July 22 - Members of the 101st Airborne kill Uday and Qusay Hussein during a three-hour firefight in Mosul, Iraq. August August 7 - Jordanian embassy bombing in Baghdad. August 19 - A truck bomb attack on the UN kills Sérgio Vieira de Mello and 21 others. This leads to the UN leaving Iraq due to security concerns. August 29 - The Shi'ite Imam Ali Mosque was hit by a suicide car bomber assassinating the head of one of Iraq's largest Shi'ite parties who had led prayers there and killing between 85 and 125 others. September September 20 - Aquila al-Hashimi, a member of the Iraq Interim Governing Council is shot in the abdomen. She dies five days later. October As part of the CPA plan of "De-Ba'athification" Americans briefly paid many Iraqi soldiers who Saddam failed to compensate with wages around the time of the U.S. lead invasion. On October 5, 2003, those payments abruptly came to an end when cash ran out ahead of the announced timetable for such payouts. Many soldiers of the Iraq Army still had yet to receive their wages either from the Iraqi government or the Coalition. Now jobless and without an income a crowd of appx 20,000 people, largely former soldiers and Ba'ath party members gathered at the pay sites location on Damascus Street in Baghdad and began a demonstration that quickly developed into a full-scale riot. A notable uptick in "insurgency" attacks against coalition forces followed soon thereafter. October 27 - 2003 Baghdad bombings November November 12 – In Nasiriyah, at least 23 people, among them the first Italian casualties of the 2003 Iraq war are killed in a suicide bomb attack on an Italian police base. November 26 – UK foreign minister Jack Straw pays a brief, surprise visit to Iraq. November 26 – Abed Hamed Mowhoush, Iraqi General, tortured to death by the USA Army personnel while in prison. November 27 – President Bush drops by for