The Salvadoran Crucible: The Failure of U.S. Counterinsurgency in El Salvador, 1979-1992 - Hardcoverby Brian D'Haeseleer (Author) In 1979, with El Salvador growing ever more unstable and ripe for revolution, the United States undertook a counterinsurgency intervention that over the following decade would become Washington's largest nation building effort since Vietnam. In 2003, policymakers looked to this "successful" undertaking as a model for US intervention in Iraq. In fact, Brian D'Haeseleer argues in The Salvadoran Crucible, the US