I came up with a dead end on the arabic poetry. That doesn't mean it's not there, I just couldn't find anything. I think you are on to something far more plausible.
Going to double check on the capitalization.
Need to look at various ports in Texas. Also, there was the possible illegal middle easterners coming into Texas/Arizona via Mexico, etc. over the past few months.
Also--Texas---Oil, Bush
Houston was on one of the lists the Red Cross put out for needing "post disaster relief" awhile back. Now when you try to find that list, you get a 404 message.