WHITE HOUSE BACKS U.N. ON ENDING IRAQI MISSILES.(Main)

Byline: R. Jeffrey Smith Washington Post

The White House pledged support Thursday for a stepped-up United Nations effort to destroy Iraq's capability to make ballistic missiles, a move that U.S. and diplomatic officials say could spark a new quarrel with Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.

The U.N. effort, to be launched next week and last through the spring, will seek to eliminate machinery and production lines at four Iraqi factories that inspectors claim were used to make components of the missiles hurled at Saudi Arabia and Israel during last year's Persian Gulf war.

Officials say the effort is authorized by a U.N. cease-fire resolution accepted by …