Table: Planned Theft: How It Might Have Worked

-- Unscrupulous art dealers from inside Iraq and elsewhere place orders with henchmen for rare pieces

-- Armed with descriptions and locations of the objects, the thieves spirit them away

-- Low-paid "mules" truck the loot across the desert to Syria, Jordan, and Turkey

-- Stripped of museum ID numbers, the looted treasures are put on flights to the art capitals of the world