General Mahmud al Huchum

You merely adopted the battlefield. I was born in it, molded by it.

*This area is mine, general. You have no business to attend here. I have an entire tunnel network at my disposal. I can strike in the blink of an eye from anywhere... My name is Mahmud al Huchum and I swear that none of your men will be spared! Anyway, since you decided to stay, tell your sentinels to never sleep, as my attacks are ceaseless and of a rare brutality.*

## Introduction

**Mahmud al Huchum** (Arabic: محمود الهشوم, lit. meaning: *The Judgement*) is a GLA general specialized in armoured assaults in Command & Conquer: Generals Zero Hour: Contra. His super unit is the Karkadann. His main technologies are salvaged weaponry, makeshift machinery, emergency reconstruction methods and stolen weapons.

## History

Little is known about Huchum. According to the info the American and Chinese intelligence have gathered about him, he was born in Jerusalem as a Palestinian. The tensions between Israel and Palestine and the death of his oldest brother who was killed by Tsahal Forces during an Intifada made him grow a deep hatred against Israel and its allies. He left the family house at age 17 and joined multiple guerrilla groups scattered about the Middle East in their fight against Western powers. His whereabouts remained a total mystery until the GLA War in 2013, where he joined the terrorist faction as a promising commander. It is said that his knowledge in armored vehicles made him a precious asset for the GLA as he was able to elaborate massive assaults with tanks. How he acquired such knowledge and skills was subject to many theories among American and Chinese intelligence but the likeliest was that he acquired that knowledge from his father, who was a mechanic, and that he had an unquestionable talent for vehicles and machinery. However, the American and Chinese military put an end to the GLA threat, or that is what they thought. Still, Huchum - despite being one of the world's most wanted men - was never found and was then presumed dead or at least no longer a nuisance. Again, nothing was known of his whereabouts until 2023, when the GLA rose up from its ashes and started striking back. Huchum - in the meantime promoted general - Juhziz, Prince Kassad and Dr. Thrax, led by Mohmar "Deathstrike", joined their efforts against Western powers. There, Huchum built a powerful tank called the Karkadann. With its help, he destroyed the Israel-Palestine Wall and drove the Israelis out of Jerusalem, where he established his headquarters.

Following the events, Jerusalem became Palestinian territory that the Israeli Military failed to retake so far. Palestine, suspected by the UN to help the GLA, has been cut off from the outside world so no one knows exactly what's happening inside. However, some GLA dissidents said that Palestine was under strict laws just like usual GLA territories, but those laws were not related to Islam, Huchum's possible religious confession. The original Palestinian Governments such as Fatah and Hamas were also disbanded, replaced by GLA governments. It is also said that the GLA's success on conquering Jerusalem has caused a widespread Islamophobia among numerous countries for a week, including the USA and China, as Palestine is an officially Muslim majority "country" (adding to the fact that the invasion matches the Islamic Doomsday Signs almost perfectly) that many Western and East Asian countries take a hard line on the religion's believers (some Western nations decided to prevent Muslims from entering their territory, while a few East Asian nations increased their surveillance on such religious groups).

Meanwhile, the Islamic Countries have also suffered the consequences such as having their non-muslim citizens/foreign investors leaving en masse (possibly due to the fact they lost trust on their country's state religion after finding out about Jerusalem and Islam's connection), accusations of Jihad Funding (due to UN finding out that Huchum's WMD is from Pakistan), broken diplomatic relations and having a hard time to assure that the GLA is not related to their nation's official religion, especially those who are members of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, which suspended Palestine's OIC membership and volunteered to join the anti-terrorism effort, begging the Palestinian government to do the same as proof that it does not support the GLA.

## Arsenal

### Infantry

* **Worker** - Builds GLA structures and gathers resources.
* **Rebel** - Basic infantry
* **RPG Trooper** - Anti-armor infantry.
* **Stinger Trooper** - Anti-air infantry.
* **Alshain** - Unarmed flying scout unit.
* **Jarmen Kell** - Hero unit, elite sniper. Can snipe the crews of vehicles to leave them for capture.

### Vehicles

* **Command Truck** - Commands GLA general's powers.
* **Mobile Supply Stash** - Stores supplies and trains workers.
* **Radar Van** - Enables the mini-map, detects stealth, has long sight range and can reveal undiscovered terrain when upgraded.
* **Combat Cycle**
	+ **Worker Biker** - Mounted version of the Worker.
	+ **Rebel Biker** - Mounted version of the Rebel.
	+ **RPG Biker** - Mounted version of the RPG Trooper.
	+ **Stinger Biker** - Mounted version of the Stinger Trooper.
* **BTR-50 Driller** -Amphibious transport. Can dig a tunnel exit on command
* **BTR-50 Engineer** - Amphibious sapper/cleaner. Detects and detonates mines, cleans toxins & radiation.
* **Rig Launcher** - Long range driller unit. Can launch drillers over long distances to open up tunnel exits.
* **Demolisher** - Rush unit armed with a wrecking ball. Very effective vs buildings.
* **Scorpion Tank** - Light tank, can upgrade itself with salvaged parts.
* **Technical** - Recon vehicle, can transport infantry units.
* **Quad Tank** - Anti-air vehicle, more durable than the Quad Cannon.
* **Dana** - Light artillery, can upgrade itself with salvaged parts.
* **Toxin Tractor** - Anti-Infantry unit, can clear garrisons, can upgrade itself with salvaged parts.
* **Marauder Tank** - Medium/Heavy tank, can upgrade itself with salvaged parts.
* **Flak Cannon** - Anti-air defense. Has low mobility, but stealth when not moving. Needs to deploy before firing
* **Battle Bus** - Armored Personnel Carrier. Can transport up to 8 infantry units. Has fireports.
* **Katyusha** - Heavy Artillery. Effective in groups against large enemy groups.
* **Karkadann** - Super unit, heavily armored assault artillery. Effective against ground targets.

### Structures

* **Factory** - Trains workers and builds utility vehicles.
* **Barracks** - Trains GLA infantry.
* **Arms Dealer** - Builds and repairs GLA vehicles.
* **Black Market** - Income generator, provides various GLA upgrades.
* **Palace** - Technology building, can be garrisoned by 5 infantries, unlocks important upgrades and units.
* **Salvage Plant** - Provides salvage crates. Researches Recycling upgrade.
* **Tunnel Network** - Defense structure, garrison can move from one Tunnel exit to another instantly.
* **Underground Command Post** - Connected to tunnel network, gives +25% damage bonus to all units garrisoned in tunnels. Lasts for 15 seconds after exiting tunnel.
* **Quad Cannon Position** - Anti-infantry & air defense, can gain veterancy.
* **Anti-Tank Cannon Position** - Anti-armor defense, can gain veterancy.
* **Howitzer Position** - Long range defense, can gain veterancy.
* **Obstacle** - Defense structure consisting of a large pile of rubble, prevents enemy units from moving through it.
* **Demo Trap** - Defense structure, explodes when enemy comes close.
* **Temple** - Super weapon. Launches a powerful Hatf-III missile.

### Upgrades

* **Capture Buildings** - Allows Rebels to capture neutral and enemy structures.
* **Bike Workshop** - Unlocks Combat Cycles.
* **Camo Netting** - Individual upgrade. Gives invisibility to defensive structures and radar vans.
* **Smoke Screen** - Unlocks Scorpion Tank's Smoke Screen ability. Smoke Screen draws enemy fire.
* **Scorpion Rockets** - Equips Scorpion Tanks with rockets.
* **Toxin Shells** - Allows tanks to fire anthrax laden shells.
* **AP Bullets** - Increases damage of all bullet based weapons by 25%.
* **AP Rockets** - Increases damage of rockets and missiles by 25%.
* **Anthrax Beta** - Unlocks a more potent strain of anthrax, increases toxin weapon damage by 25%.
* **Vehicle Mine Sweeper** - Scorpion Tanks and Karkadann become immune to land mines.
* **Junk Repair** - Allows GLA vehicles to repair themselves on the battlefield.
* **Rocket Buggy Ammo** - Increases Rocket Buggy's ammo with 100%.
* **Recycling** - Gives the ability to recover destroyed vehicles.

### General's Powers

* Rank 1
	+ **Kill Garrison** - Clears a building from garrisoned soldiers.
	+ **Emergency Repair** - Repairs vehicles and buildings in an area. (requires Rank 2)
	+ **Radar Deployment** - Allows the player to deploy a stationary radar in selected area. The radar detects stealth aircraft and reveals surrounding terrain.
* Rank 3
	+ **Tank Trap Deployment** - Deploys a group of four tank traps. Tank traps obstruct the movement and maneuverability of vehicles.
	+ **Sneak Attack** - Troops can create a tunnel anywhere on the map. The player must have at least one Tunnel Network node built to use this ability.
	+ **Artillery Barrage** **Level 1-3** - Call off-map artillery to strike target. Can be upgraded with toxin shells.
		- Level 1: 12 shells.
		- Level 2: 24 shells.
		- Level 3: 36 shells.
	+ **Cash Bounty** - Earn a cash bounty for every enemy unit or building destroyed.
		- Level 1: 5% enemy value
		- Level 2: 10% enemy value
		- Level 3: 20% enemy value
* Rank 5
	+ **Rebel Ambush Level 1-3** - Allows the player to create a surprise ambush of Rebels and RPG Troopers anywhere.
		- Level 1: 3 Rebels and 2 RPG Troopers
		- Level 2: 6 Rebels and 4 RPG Troopers
		- Level 3: 9 Rebels and 6 RPG Troopers
	+ **Stealth Tunnel** - New tunnels from Sneak Attack general's power will start with camouflage. Mobile Rig and Rig Launcher will dig stealth tunnels. Requires Sneak Attack general's power to be purchased first.
	+ **Toxin Bomb** - Summon a C-97 to drop an anthrax bomb on the designated location. Deadly against enemy troop concentrations.
	+ **GPS Scrambler** - Cloaks units within its area of effect.
	+ **GLA Training** - All units will be built as veterans.
		- +10% rate of fire
		- +10% damage
		- +10% health

## Strengths and Advantages

* He replaces Quad cannons with the more durable Quad Tanks.
* His Rig Launcher can create Tunnels and surprise enemies.

* He can use Sneak Attack General's power as early as Rank 3.
* He is the only non-Chinese general to have access to Artillery Barrages.
* His super weapon houses a warhead that will release a giant explosion after being fired.
* His super unit is a "land battleship" that fires artillery shells.
* He requires low micro management and is well suited for most players.

## Weaknesses and Disadvantages

* Being a "direct assault" general, he might get outranked by his enemies.

## Trivia

* Huchum's portrait is based upon the GLA commander featured in one of the *Command & Conquer: Generals* promotional posters although his torso is different.
* Before Patch 2, he shared the same voice as Mohmar's.
* Huchum shares some similarities with General Deathstrike in the *Shockwave* mod for *Zero Hour*. As both have a similar military doctrine (utilization of salvage and heavy armor), similar units (Quad Tank, and Katyusha Launcher) and similar structures (a structure that produces salvage crates, for instance; and Huchum's Haft-III missile functions similarly to Deathstrike's Soyuz Rocket). It's likely that the Contra Mode Team and SWR Productions (the team behind the Shockwave mod) took inspirations from each other at some point.
* It is still unclear whether Huchum's faith is Islam due to his Palestinian background (not all Palestinians are Muslims, but the those against Israel and supporting Palestine's Independence and the recognition of Jerusalem [or Baitul Maqdis "**القُدس**" in Arabic, one of the holiest site of Islam where Muhammad "visited" heaven from] as its capital city are mostly Muslims). Furthermore, his superweapon was originally named "Jihad Temple" ("Jihad" meaning "Holy War" in Islam). Still, there is no official statement from the developers. But the most possible theories are that either Huchum abandoned the faith since he joined the GLA or that he simply fights in the name of the GLA rather than his religious beliefs. Such mystery about his religious confession might be made so to avoid a backlash over GLA's ideology being stereotyped as an Islamic Terrorist Faction (the GLA is more of an Anti-Imperialist/Separatist Arabic Organization).
	+ Oddly enough, Huchum's success on conquering Jerusalem might actually match the Islamic Doomsday Signs. It is said that a young, charismatic and supernatural leader (Imam) named Mahdi, capable of rallying masses of Islam followers into a giant, unstoppable army will appear (selected by God) to unite all Muslims and create a strong Islamic State before the Doomsday comes. Since the two names' first pronunciation is similar (Mah-), combining the fact that Jerusalem is the most advanced city the GLA conquered so far and Jerusalem's role in Islam, it might be true that Huchum is the "Mahdi of the Global Liberation Army", albeit not the Islamic Mahdi.