Baghdad, Iraq ? Iraq’s interim president and defense minister said Tuesday that withdrawing U.S. troops from Iraq was out of the question for the time being, in a stark reminder of the danger posed by the Iraqi insurgency even in the wake of Sunday’s election.

As Iraq reopened its international airport and allowed traffic back on the road, President Ghazi al-Yawer said it would be “complete nonsense” for foreign troops to leave the country right away.

Vote-counting in the landmark election continued with no results announced, but a cleric-backed Shiite alliance said its projections showed a big win over U.S.-backed interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi’s political ticket.

If true, a group of Shiite leaders, some of whom may prefer an Iranian-style theocracy, would take the lead role in a national assembly slated to select an interim government and draft a constitution.

The development could further alienate Iraq’s minority Sunni Muslim population, many of whom distrust Iraq’s Shiite Muslim majority and, in particular, the United Iraqi Alliance. The alliance was formed with the guidance of the top Shiite cleric in Iraq, Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.

Although Shiite leaders say they don’t intend to impose a government run by clerics, suspicions persist that the alliance would push for a constitution based solely on Islamic law or clerical rule.

Vote-counting began Tuesday morning under U.N. supervision in a building inside the Green Zone compound. While Iraqi election officials had said there would be a second count of original ballots after an initial tally at polling stations, election workers were instead counting figures given on tally sheets from the stations.

Iraqis sat at computer terminals entering tallies throughout the day, and organizers said they would work in shifts around the clock.

This combination shows an image, left, posted on an Iraqi militant Web site on and an image provided by toy manufacturer Dragon Models USA of an action figure named Cody in a box. The Web site posted the photograph of what it claimed was a kidnapped U.S. soldier, but doubts were quickly raised about its authenticity. The figure in the photo resembled the military action figure originally produced for sale at U.S. bases in Kuwait.

U.N. vote observer Mauricio Claudio said he thought the process could take 10 days.

U.S. officials are quick to point out that the alliance includes Sunnis and more secular-minded politicians, such as one-time Bush administration favorite Ahmad Chalabi. After enjoying a long stretch in which the American government paid his organization millions of dollars, Chalabi fell from grace over several instances, including allegations that he was acting as a spy for Iran.

An Iraqi man looks at a newspaper featuring interim Iraqi President Ghazi al-Yawer, interim Prime Minister Ayad Allawi and Sunni politician Adnan Pachachi, from left to right, in downtown Baghdad, Iraq.

There was a brief scare Tuesday when a Web site displayed pictures of what appeared to be a U.S. soldier, and militants threatened to kill him unless Iraqi prisoners were released.

The soldier, however, appeared to be identical to an action toy of U.S. commandos manufactured by Dragon Toys. It’s unclear who may have posted the photo or why.

The U.S. military said it had no reports of missing soldiers.

“We’ve seen the broadcasts and we’re still looking into it,” said Staff Sgt. Nick Minecci, a spokesman for the U.S. military in Baghdad.