SAN DIEGO -- Family members of the only U.S. Marine killed in the Haditha civilian slaying incident said they are outraged that eight Marines are facing criminal charges.

The Marines are accused of killing 24 unarmed civilians after a roadside bomb killed Lance Cpl. Michael Terrazas, a member of their unit.

"I lost my best friend and mentor, and I know he's never coming back," said Jorge Terrazas, Michael Terrazas' brother.

Politics is masking the Marines' heroic actions in a war where insurgents often use people as human shields, the Terrazas family said.

"This is a tragedy for all the Marines -- all the families that have been involved -- and we're taking it very hard," Michaael Terrazas' mother, Belinda Duran-Terrazas, said.

When asked if she thought the Marines were being used as scapegoats, she said that yes, she thought they were.

"Is that the way they treat our heroes nowadays?" Michael Terrazas' father, Martin Terrazas, said. "Because they're there for us."

"This is being labeled a massacre," Belinda Terrazas said. "Is that fair? What is our son's death labeled? He was murdered also. Murdered. They brought him home in pieces. We buried our son. And now, we're going through all this all over again. These men are going through so much. It's not right."

The Camp Pendleton-based Marines are charged with crimes ranging from premeditated murder to dereliction of duty.