Nope- the precursors are loaded when the shell is manufactured- firing the shell, and the resultant spin imparted by the rifling causes a wall between the two containers to rupture, and mixes the prescursors.
Also, I suspect it was a 155mm artillery round, not a mortar round.
Much as I support the war, and think we need to stay the course...I don't think this proves there are stockpiles of WMD sitting around in Iraq. They may have been moved to syria, who knows. But I don't think a single round makes our case. For one thing, why use a single round? Why not use a truck load?
I still think we were right to go in, and I beleive SH would have restarted/ramped up his production had sanctions been lifted, but I don't think this is the smoking gun we're looking for.
How do you know we didn't find tons of the two materials, which only become sarin, when mixed, and therefore also "didn't count".
And how much smallpox or anthrax do you think would count as WMD? A vial you can put in your pocked could kill thousands even millions, as it spreads.
WMD is not classified as WMD, only if you have tons of something.
What we found was not some lab protype, but an operational shell. Clearly if there is one, there are more, we just don't know where.
What about the high concentrations of mustard gas and cyanide we found in the Euphrates? There is plenty of evidence, but because we didn't find 10 tons of each fully mixed WMD properly labeled in 6 inch letters, nothing seems to count. As we see, they didn't need actual sarin, only the precursors, which people also won't accept as proof -- or rather the media doesn't.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/iraq/2003-04-04-iraq-white-vials_x.htm
Marines reportedly find cyanide, mustard agents in Euphrates
From staff and wire reports
Marine units testing drinking water found cyanide and mustard agents in the Euphrates River, MSNBC reported, as concerns mounted that Iraq would resort to chemical weapons as coalition troops closed on Baghdad.
What you are describing is one type of shell - the type that went off the other day. What they are describing is a cruder type of shell that the Iraqis had been making previously.
"Also, I suspect it was a 155mm artillery round, not a mortar round."
It is not mentioned here, but discussed on FR earlier, it was an unmarked shell, not different in appearance than the regular 155mm artillery rounds. Thus any quantity of these could be amoungst the vast quantites of ordinary munitions, in plain sight of any weapons inspectors. In fact, it is possible that Sadaam's stratagy called for a mix of sarin and regular shells in any artillery action.