Whether anyone pulled the wool over anyone's eyes...
I would suggest comparing the cost, schedule and capability promised in 2001 (after five years and >$4 billion in risk reduction) with the situation today.
If I was asked to go war tomorrow against a near-peer foe I'd choose F-35 Block 2B over Rafale; in fact pretty much anything save Raptor.
That's a fascinating statement, particularly the final two words. However, are we assuming that there is another air force somewhere helping out? Because if not, how do you propose to stop the enemy's land and sea forces with 2x JDAM or a few SDBs per cab?
I don't think a GX is a threat in itself. On the other hand, the mission of QRA these days is often to determine whether something is a lost civvy, diverted with hostile intent or a furrin probe, so it's nice to be able to match its altitude.
I'd accept that 3F should be the baseline (that wasn't SS's case, and as I think I have said before, the 2B/3I should really be called service-test capabilities). Yes, the requirement was kept stable - but the other reason that things like HDTV and Rover aren't there yet is that the program is still not delivering what should have arrived years ago.
And when we talk about Block 4 we confuse the issue again, because we talk about capabilities up to a decade away.
We all have our biases. Me, I am heavily biased in favor of programs that come in on time and schedule and deliver what it says on the tin. Because when they don't, budgets being limited by definition, they suck the life out of other capabilities.
I respect professional experience and qualifications, but also skeptical about people who hang their hats on it, whatever it is, because of history and personal experience of the times that the experts, professionals, great and good, pilots and engineers have collaborated to create epic cock-ups. One of the first stories I had to write about was the service entry of Concorde, a lovely airplane but in business terms an entirely self-inflicted catastrophe.
And as for the "whole point of 5th Gen", if 5thGenTM means so much, why did it take nine years from the start of JSF to the point where anyone called it "5th Gen"? It's the best advertising slogan since A Diamond Is Forever, but is it any more than that?