Brother of U.S. soldier killed in Niger says equating attack to Benghazi ‘a bit far’

The brother of one of the soldiers killed this month during an ambush in Niger said Monday that equating the attack to Benghazi is “a bit far.”

“I think anytime something like this happens and it gets so much attention — especially when many people didn’t know we were there — it’s going to be a controversy,” William Wright, brother of Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright, said on CNN. “I for one, having experienced in these situations, don’t see it as a Benghazi situation.

“That was very different where Americans were denied support by Americans and it was highly controversial, and that was not war, that was a diplomat and his staff,” he said. “This is a special-operations detachment doing mission they were tasked to do in a very hostile environment. It is a tragedy.

The Oct. 4 ambush in Niger resulted in the deaths of four U.S. soldiers. The details surrounding the attack are still under investigation.

Mr. Wright was reacting to Rep. Frederica Wilson’s comments over the weekend that Niger would be President Trump’s Benghazi.

“Niger is @realDonaldTrump’s Benghazi. He needs to own it,” Ms. Wilson, Florida Democrat, tweeted Sunday.

The attack on the U.S. embassy in Benghazi, Libya, in 2012 left four Americans dead, including U.S. Ambassador Christopher Stevens. The Obama administration and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were highly criticized for failing to act to secure the embassy.