text:  And you say the wars lasted longer because of U.S. involvement. Exactly. I mean, you had, you know, in the case of El Salvador, civil war extended from 1980 to 1992. The U.S. was propping up the Salvadoran military, which at the time was battling a group of leftist guerrillas. And for all of the resources that the U.S. poured into that war effort, the Salvadoran government essentially fought these guerrillas to a stalemate. And in the process, 75,000 people died.