President Barack Obama has authorized the transfer of 15 of the prisoners still held at the U.S. Naval Station prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to the United Arab Emirates. It’s a far cry from his 2008 election pledge to close the Guantanamo military prison, but the removal of the 15 reduces the number still held there to 61.

The peak number of prisoners was 780. Some of them have been at Guantanamo since 2002, without trial, in contradiction of the great American concept of due process of law. 

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Mr. Obama has been blocked by Congress in his intention either to close the Guantanamo facility, or to transfer all of the prisoners to detention facilities on U.S. soil for trial. 

It costs the American taxpayer at least $445 million a year to hold the prisoners at Guantanamo.

Twelve of those going to the UAE are Yemenis; three are Afghans.

The argument that Guantanamo prisoners should not be released, transferred to other countries, or brought to the United States is based on concern that they hold bitter views toward the United States and might return to combat against U.S. forces or against Americans at home. Given that some of them were subjected to “enhanced interrogation techniques,” or that they have been held at Guantanamo outside of even American justice for many years, it would not be surprising if that were the case.

At the same time, the UAE runs a fairly tight ship in terms of oversight of terrorism suspects. It is also held accountable by the United States — a guarantor of the UAE’s own security, if the transferred prisoners return to the activities that put them in Guantanamo in the first place.

It is unlikely that Mr. Obama will be able to get rid of the remaining 61 Guantanamo prisoners in the five months remaining in his term, although he may well try. The U.S. military prison in Cuba remains a persistent stain on America’s reputation for principled respect for the rule of law.

First Published September 12, 2016, 4:00 a.m.