  Marsden, Lingenfelter, Rothschild & Higdon have given arguments against the
magnetar model for Soft Gamma Repeaters (SGRs) and Anomalous X-ray Pulsars
(AXPs), as forcefully advocated by R. Rothschild at this meeting. We critique
these arguments, showing: (1) The claim that SGRs and AXPs are born in
unusually dense regions of the ISM is not supported in any compelling way by
observations. (2) Even if this claim were true, it would not argue against the
magnetar model. Moreover, all observations can be accounted for if magnetars
have shorter observable lifetimes than do radiopulsars, in agreement with
theoretical expectations, but no systematically different ambient ISM
densities. (3) The suggestion that accretion onto the neutron star is directly
influenced by the ISM in a way that explains the difference between SGRs/AXPs
and radiopulsars, is not possible. The mass inflow rate during later stages of
supernova remnant expansion when accretion can be influenced by backpressure
from the ISM is many orders of magnitude too small. (4) Accretion-based models
are unable to account for the hyper-Eddington bursts and flares which are the
defining characteristic of SGRs. (5) Accretion disk models also predict optical
and IR emission with higher luminosities than are observed.
