  Recent measurements of the spin-down rates of soft gamma ray repeaters (SGRs)
and anomalous X-ray pulsars (AXPs) have been interpreted as evidence that these
objects are ``magnetars'': neutron stars spinning down by magnetic dipole
radiation, but with a magnetic field two orders of magnitude larger than that
of ordinary neutron stars. We discuss the evidence disfavouring this
interpretation. We argue that, instead, the observations support the hypothesis
that SGRs and AXPs are neutron stars that have suffered a transition into a
denser form of nuclear matter to become, presumably, strange stars or quark
stars. Their gravitational energy release while they are cooling and
contracting can power both their quiescent X-ray emission and their star quakes
which produce `soft' gamma ray bursts.
