Why is it that the only promises Obama keeps are the ones that make us less safe?

The president took another step toward closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba when the administration announced the transfer of 15 prisoners.  It was the largest transfer made during the Obama administration.

All 15 detainees are being sent to the United Arab Emirates.

CNN:

The inmates, who included nationals from Afghanistan, Yemen and the United Arab Emirates, will be transferred to the UAE, a US State Department official told CNN.

The official added that six of the detainees had been approved for transfer back in 2009. The others had been evaluated by the interagency Periodic Review Board and it had been determined that their "continued detention was no longer necessary to protect against a significant continuing threat to the security of the United States."

The move brings the population at the famed detention facility down to 61. There were 242 detainees at Guantanamo when the Obama administration came into office.

The latest transfer is part of an acceleration in the prison population's decline, with the State Department official noting that in the past 11 months alone, 55 detainees have been transferred to 13 different countries.

The majority of Guantanamo prisoners already approved for transfer hail from Yemen, but the US has had a policy against transferring detainees to Yemen due to the ongoing instability there.

Wolosky thanked the UAE for its "continued assistance in closing the detention facility at Guantanamo Bay" and emphasized the need to shut the prison down.

The administration's latest moves to close the facility quickly drew the ire of Republican opponents in Congress, who have passed legislation that would prevent the Department of Defense from transferring the prisoners there to the US.

"In its race to close Gitmo, the Obama administration is doubling down on policies that put American lives at risk. Once again, hardened terrorists are being released to foreign countries where they will be a threat," said House Foreign Affairs Committee Chairman Ed Royce, a California Republican. "I fear we will be dealing with the consequences of this recklessness for years to come."

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump pledged earlier on Monday to keep the detention facility open during his speech on countering ISIS.

The criteria for judging if an inmate is a threat have changed since the Bush administration.  Instead of determining if an inmate is likely to rejoin the fight against the U.S., the question now is whether it is "no longer necessary to protect against a significant continuing threat to the security of the United States." 

It may be semantics, but it means that more prisoners – some more dangerous than those transferred by the Bush administration – are being allowed to leave.

Obama will not succeed in closing the facility before he leaves office.  There is a hard core of about 50 dangerous terrorists yet to be tried by a military tribunal, including Khalid Sheihk Mohammed, the 9/11 mastermind.  If Clinton wins the election, she will attempt to move the prisoners to the U.S. and try them as common criminals.  The outcome will depend on whether the Republicans can maintain their majority in Congress to prevent it.