So what is like outside of the turbulent Sunni triangle? "They draw a picture of a once proud but now impoverished port city steadily falling under the sway of competing Shia Islamist groups and their militias. The groups are said to have infiltrated all levels of the police and local authorities, and are answerable to no one but their religious leaders and party bosses."Basra can go from order to chaos because of the infiltration of the authorities here," said Nasr Hussein, a teacher in a Basra high school who used to sit on the local council. "There are so many rival loyalties that could undermine the security situation." The British forces were only giving "an illusion of control" and the government in Baghdad was "hopeless"."